UzumakiNamikaze Naruto of Konoha
by LilPrincess95
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto met Uchiha Mikoto when she was seven. She became close friends with the Uchiha brothers. An attack on her birthday causes her to hide her left eye. This is her life as on the road to her goals. -On hold for now-
1. Metting the Uchiha's and Graduation

**I just upload the first two chapters of my other Naruto story, but I'm not sure how likely I will update that soon. This one I really like and will try to stick with it... Why do I keep starting new stories?**

**This is a femNaru story, as for romance I'm not sure if there will be any. **

**Naruto's appearance is: Red spiky hair, that falls about half way down her back. Her bangs grew to cover most of the left side of her face. A half face mask is hidden beneath her bangs. She has the whisker birthmarks too. Her clothes consist of a orange shirt, that cuts off to show her stomach. Under her shirt she wears a mesh shirt. She wears a black skirt with shorts underneath. She wears a hodded cloak open over her clothes. It cuts off just past her waistline, has long sleeves that hide her hands. It is extremely dark grey, almost black color with orange flames that start at the hem. She wears heeled ankle boots that have a mesh sock connected on each. The left leg goes up to her thigh, while the right only goes to her knee.**

**As for how Naruto speaks that is Ayame's doing.  
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**I think that is enough for now. Onwards!**

***This has been re-edited***

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><p>The rain poured heavily on Konoha, the setting sun hidden behind the sea of clouds. Children run, jumping into puddles as they go, on their way home with their parents.<p>

A spot of crimson weaves through the few people still on the street. The spot moves quickly, a head swerves from side to side, searching for shelter. An angry cry makes the small one hasten their movements. More angry cries join the first.

As they get closer the small figure jumps into a nearby ally. A group of men run pass the hiding spot. The figure releases a breath, only to take a sharp intake when a voice interrupts the silence of the rain.

"What is a young girl like you doing out in the rain?" The small girl looks up; standing there was a woman with long dark hair, dark eyes, and fair skin. Unlike all the usual looks the small girl receives, hers was a sad smile. "If you stay out in the rain dressed like that you'll catch a cold."

"I have never gotten sick before." was the girl's reply.

The lady thought for a moment; "Even so, you can't be comfortable in wet clothes." She was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, already completely soaked. "Why not come with me and we'll get you into something warmer and out of this rain." She held her hand out to the little girl.

The girl stared at the hand, not sure if she should trust this woman. No one was ever nice to her; well except for three people. Searching the woman's eyes she saw no ill intent so she grabbed her hand. They started to walk, now safe from the rain thanks to the lady's umbrella.

"Oh, I never gave you my name. I'm Mikoto. What about you?"

"Naruto, my name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Well, it is very nice to meet you, Naruto." Naruto gave her a blinding, kind hearted smile.

"I am happy to meet you, too, Mikoto-san."

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><p>The duo walked into the Uchiha compound, Naruto trying to ignore all the stares and Mikoto not paying them any attention. They came upon a large old fashion house.<p>

"Welcome to my home, Naruto. I don't think either my husband or my sons are home though."

"You have sons?" Naruto asked. Mikoto smiled at her.

"Two. One who is twelve and one who just turned seven."

"I am also turning seven this year." Naruto informed her.

"Well then maybe you two can be friends." Naruto smiled brighter at the thought of a new friend.

"First let's get you out of those wet clothes. Then we can get you something to eat." The older woman giggled when Naruto's stomach growled, causing the young girl to blush. "Let's hurry then."

Mikoto had given Naruto an old dress of hers to wear. It was a light blue that went down to the girl's knee and has short sleeves. Currently, Mikoto was doing her hair; turning it from the giant knot it was into manageable spikes that she put into two low pig tails, the shoulder length hair resting in front of her.

"Mother, I'm home!" a voice called out from the front of the house. Steady footsteps made their way to the kitchen, where they were seated. A young teen boy walked into the room "Oh? We have a guest?" Naruto stood to greet the boy while his mother welcomed him home.

"Hello, my name is Uzumaki Naruto." She said as she bowed. The boy smiled at her kindly.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, nice to meet you." Mikoto had left them to start making dinner. They sat at the table to talk while they waited. It wasn't long before loud steps were heard at the door.

"Mom, I'm home!" a loud voice came. A young boy, the same age as Naruto, with black hair and eyes stormed into the kitchen. As soon as his brother was noticed, the boy jumped onto the older boy's back. "Brother! You're home!" He laughed when his older brother hugged him back. It was only then that he noticed the girl in the room. She was smiling at him and his brother.

"I am Naruto. What is your name?" She asked.

"Sasuke." He shook her hand. They all sat at the table, Naruto between the two boys, while Mikoto continued cooking. They talked about anything and everything.

"Do you go to the Academy, Naruto-chan?" Itachi asked. She nodded.

"Yes; I start classes tomorrow." She informed them.

"Maybe you'll be in the same class as me!" Sasuke said excitingly.

"Dinner is ready!" Mikoto called as she placed the food on the table. They talked all through dinner and late into the night. It was when the two youngest of the group of four started to yawn repeatedly that Mikoto sent Itachi to bring Naruto home. Sasuke refused to be left behind so he went with them. Naruto feel asleep while walking and got a piggy-back ride from Itachi. One they had gotten to her apartment he had to carry a sleeping Sasuke back home.

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><p>For the month before the massacre Fugaku gave the two friends a challenge (Due to him not liking Naruto) to see if they could fool all those at the academy into think they weren't friend. Mikoto and Itachi both disliked this but Naruto and Sasuke saw it as a challenge. They fooled everyone. The only ones to know that they were friends were Mikoto, Itachi, Fugaku, Those at Ichiraku's Ramen, and the Hokage. At the academy Naruto acted out and was loud, a mask to protect herself from letting anyone see how much the hate from the villagers affected her. She started pranking people for two reasons. One to get back at those who treat her badly and also as training; she was never caught by the shinobi chasing her. The only time she got caught the Hokage had jokingly mentioned that "Soon she'll be pranking ANBU HQ." She saw it as a challenge and did it. The only reason the Hokage knew it was her was due to him giving her the idea. Other than that it remains a mystery. He was amazed at the fact she managed to find ANBU HQ let alone prank everyone there.<p>

Once they realized that the academy teachers were not teaching Naruto properly Mikoto, Itachi and Sasuke would help her after school. On the weekends Mikoto would teach her and her sons to play instruments and how to dance.

Mikoto soon saw Naruto as an almost daughter and Itachi saw her as a little sister.

While training one day Naruto fell and skinned her knee. Both her and Sasuke were amazed to see it heal in front of their eyes. It was one of the first clues that she revived towards the knowledge of the nine-tails. The other clue was when she met the fox face to face. Let's just say that she was more than a little surprised. But the fox actually liked her so isn't trying to kill her. She is more like an overprotective sister. She even taught Naruto a skill that lets her summon a mini version of her to use as a summon animal, but only with her permission before doing so. 'Ku-chan' can forcefully summon herself if Naruto is in danger. This summon form is about one ninth (For only having one tail) her full power. She only told Sasuke and no one else about her though.

While looking through some old papers the two friends noticed that the top shinobi and worse were always put on the same team when graduation comes. This cracked another plan where Naruto would act like she was no good at anything. The Hokage notice it quickly but he found it amusing and decided to see where it went.

The most important thing that happened was when Naruto was walking home one day from the Uchiha compound; it was her birthday so they had thrown her a party. Knowing that there was at least one angry mob forming on this day she was almost sprinting home. She had assured them that she would be fine and refused anyone to walk her home. If they knew what was going to happen then they never would have let her go by herself. She didn't notice the chunin until he was already behind her. She was knocked to the ground and beaten; she braced herself so that she wasn't getting any bad injuries. She was looking for a chance to run and refused for Kurama to be summoned. When she saw her chance to run was when the chunin pulled out a kunai. As she turned to run he ran the kunai across her face, through her left eye. He didn't get the chance to do anything else because Kurama summoned herself and proceeded to claw and bite the man until Itachi arrived, the chunin didn't get a chance to run and was never seen again. Mikoto had gotten a bad feeling just before this had happened and sent Itachi to go make sure Naruto was okay. He found her and took her to the hospital.

Mikoto and Sasuke would visit her everyday; the latter feeling weak for not being there to help her. It was a few days later that they took off the bandages covering her eye. They were not expecting what they saw. Her eye was not the blue that they expected but the same red as her hair with a slash running through it. Kurama had used a lot of her chakra to start the healing from the moment that the kunai had damaged the eye. The amount caused the eye to take the demonic appearance. Naruto could see with it even if something covered it. So when she got out of the hospital the next day she started to wear a mask over the eye (covering half her face but her full mouth is visible.). The cover story that was told to her classmates was that while training at home she fell into a mirror. Most believed it, except Shikamaru and Hinata. Shikamaru did because he was Shikamaru, what do you expect from the lazy genius. Hinata did because she had seen when Itachi arrived at the scene. Since they felt the need to hide the real cause they both left it alone.

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><p>Naruto was walking back to her apartment from the academy; it was late, since she had been training with Sasuke. There was no one out on the streets, which was odd for that part of town. A silent noise caused Naruto to stop and turn back towards the way she had come.<p>

"**_Something isn't right,_"** Kurama spoke into the young girl's mind. The young girl nodded before running towards the Uchiha compound. What awaited her was shocking. Bodies littered the ground; the whole length of the street.

'_What has happened here?'_/ **"_What the hell happened_?"** the two thought at the same moment. '_Mikoto-san, Itachi-kun…, Sasuke'_ In her sudden worried state she rushed past the bodies straight to her friends' house. Not bothering to remove her shoes she ran into the house. It was so quiet. Her footsteps were the only sounds until she could hear crying. Locating the room it originated from she burst through the doors. She froze when she saw what was in the room. Sasuke was lying on his stomach, crying, with a wound on his shoulder. In front of him was his parents bloodied bodies. Standing over them was Itachi, his sharingan activated, staring right at her. A kunai flew pass her check, cutting her mask.

"R-run…Run!" Sasuke got up and grabbed her arm as he ran from the room barefoot. "He'll kill us!" Naruto was in shock, she didn't even notice herself being pulled along, Itachi stopping them, telling Sasuke that to become like him he would have to kill his closest friend. The nervous look he shot the girl next to him. She just kept mumbling "W-why…?" in a small voice. It was only when Sasuke dropped to the ground unconscious from a genjutsu that she snapped out of it.

Kurama popped into existences growling at the boy before them. He looked surprised. **"Stay away from them!"** she yelled. Naruto gave him one last look, enough for him to also knock her unconscious. He then apologized to Kurama, and told her that those two were the two he would never be able to kill. She swore never to tell Naruto about that fact, she was too busy trying to figure out what he meant by that. The man had just killed off the rest of his clan!

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><p>It was weeks before Sasuke returned to the academy. Every time Naruto tried to talk to him he would avoid her or ignore her. Not only did she want to make sure he was okay, at this point she doubts that though, but she wanted to show him a place she found not far from the compound. She was starting to get fed-up, so she resorted to following him home. He stopped at the lake where he practiced his fire jutsu and sat at the end of the docks. She waited a while debating whether or not to go up to him yet. She was caught off-guard when he jumped into the lake all of a sudden. She ran down to the end of the dock to make sure he came up.<p>

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" She asked once he finally came up. He didn't say anything, just turned his head away. "You will catch a cold if you stay in the water too long." She stated. He got out of the water and sat down again. "You will still catch a cold if you sit there soaking wet." He growled.

"Why do you care?" She was shocked. She turned her head facing the lake; she sat down next to him.

"Why wouldn't I care, you are my friend." She said.

"Just go away." She couldn't understand what was going on at all.

"Why? Why should I leave you alone when I'm worried about you?" He didn't want to admit to her his real reason he wanted her to leave him alone. His brother's words swam through his mind.

"Didn't you hear what my brother said? You were there!" She blinked at him.

"I do not remember anything he said. From the moment I enter the room with your parents and when you collapsed I remember nothing that anyone said. I was in too much shock." She continued to watch him as he mulled over this new information. "What did he say?" She asked quietly.

"The only way I could ever hope to face him in the future was to get the same eyes as him." When she was still confused he went on. "To get those eyes you… h-have to kill your closest friend." Her eyes widened and she gasped.

"That is why you…." She finally realized what his current behavior meant. The next thing he knew there were small arms wrapped around him in a tight embrace. "It is okay. There has to be other way for you to become strong. I will help you in any way I can." And she would too. He nodded and hugged her back.

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><p>"I wanted to show you this place I found." The red haired girl had dragged him towards an abandoned area of the village. "I have not explored the whole place yet, though." In front of them was a large stone door with symbols written all over it.<p>

"How do we get in?" Sasuke asked, a little intimidated by the size of the door.

"Like this." She placed her hand on the door inside a circle of symbols. The door opened and revealed stairs. They walked down them to find a large bare room. "This would be a great place to train." Sasuke was amazed at the sheer size of the place. There were a few doors at the back of the room.

"I wonder who built this place and why they built it." She shrugged her shoulders. She dragged him over to where there was writing on the wall.

"Draw some blood on your thumb and write your name under mine." There were a number of names, but there was too much dust on them to be readable. He did as he was told. "There now you can come whenever you want to."

"Let's go see what is in some of the other rooms." Sasuke said. She nodded and they went to the closest door. Naruto put her hand on the door and it opened. Inside there was an office that looked untouched by age. Scrolls lay on the floor, shelves, and were even piled in the corners. Sasuke left Naruto to look at another room.

A scroll left on the desk almost called out to her. It wasn't a relatively large scroll, but not small either. There was a seal on it that disappeared as soon as one of Naruto's small fingers ran across from it. It appeared to be a letter… addressed to Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto….her? She started to read it. By the end of the letter she was sitting on the ground crying.

Sasuke ran into the room, excited about something he found in one of the other rooms. He stopped as soon as he saw his friend. "Naruto?" Her eyes left the page in front of her and rested on him. "What's wrong?" He ran over to her.

"T-this room…. I-it belonged to my parents." She choked out.

"Your parents? But I thought you didn't know who your parents were." She nodded her head and showed him the letter. He was shocked at the words written on the page. "Are you sure that this is really addressed to you?" She nodded her head and pointed to the second paragraph. It said that only one with the Namikaze-Uzumaki blood could open the scroll.

The 'P.S' at the bottom caused both of them to laugh a little. It read: _"Oh, and if you didn't know we were your parents before finding this letter, hit old man Third… or do a nasty prank on him. And if you see Jiraiya hit him even harder. –Your loving parents, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina"_

There were three storage seals at the end of the letter. Naruto opened each of them. The first was a framed picture of her parents. The second was a picture that had the names; Jiraiya, Minato, Kushina, Kakashi, Obito, Rin, and Hiruzen, Third Hokage on the back where the corresponding heads were located. Jiraiya had long white hair and red lines running from his eyes. Kakashi was a teen with silver hair and mask covering his lower face. Obito was a Uchiha with orange goggles, and Rin had shoulder length brown hair and purple marks on her cheeks.

"Your father's team you think, with the Hokage, your mother and this other old guy?" She nodded to him and opened the last seal. A book titled _'Uzumaki Clan History- By Uzumaki Kushina'_ on the inside cover was a note saying _"I figured you would want to know all about your family –Your Mother"_

They decided not to tell anyone what they knew about Naruto's parents. The Hokage had gotten a strange feeling telling him to be careful at the same moment the two had read the 'P.S' of the letter. In the end it didn't matter how careful he had been, he still got pranked, the first joint effort of Naruto and Sasuke. It amazed them that it worked. They set up a trip wire in his office to throw a pie at his face then dump him in flour. The jounin and ANBU that were present were surprised as well. He couldn't prove who did it, though he had a very good idea who, so they got off with no punishment.

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><p>After their discovery of the underground training grounds they trained there regularly. It made a good hideout for Sasuke when he needed to get away from his fan girls. They were the scariest thing that either of them had ever seen. Naruto trained in fuinjutsu and studied the world history to the point that she had it memorized.<p>

When they were ten Naruto discovered a new ability her left eye had. A gold ring had appeared around it, and when she focused hard enough her right eye obtained the ring too. With it she could understand and memorize seals easily. The more complex the seal the longer she had to study it. She compared it as the sharingan for seals. It worked for seals as the sharingan worked on ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu.

She still acted the fool in class and had the lowest grades. She always had trouble with the clone jutsu, but they soon figured out that she couldn't lower the amount of chakra needed for it low enough not to override the jutsu. Her compromise was to make a very large number of them. It wasn't long until graduation came around.

Sasuke passed easily, but it all went wrong when Naruto went in to do the last part of the exam. She could tell right away that someone had done something to the room. It caused her to lose control over her chakra and her jutsu failed….miserably. Mizuki tried to talk Iruka into letting her pass; she noticed that the anomaly in the room originated from one of Mizuki's pockets; a hidden seal. Iruka said he couldn't pass her since she couldn't do it properly. She acted sad, hiding her distrust. When she left the classroom she caught Sasuke's eye. They had adapted this weird ability to understand what the other was thinking sometimes. When she passed him she put a scroll in his hand, he nodded and passed it to the Hokage as he passed him. On the scroll she had written what she noticed in the exam room. Mizuki had picked her up to talk with her.

When Sasuke had handed the scroll to the Hokage he knew something was up. He knew Naruto's skill level and that he could trust her. "I need to talk to you Iruka."

"Yes Sir."

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><p>"Iruka-sensei is a serious person. His parents were killed when he was young and he had to take care of everything himself. "Mizuki told her. Keeping to her act she replied.<p>

"But why does he only pick on me?"

"He probably sees himself in you." She was really wondering what he was getting at. "He wants to see you become strong in the real way." At seeing her sad look, fake look, but he doesn't know that. "Try to understand Iruka's feelings since you also have no parents." Her eyes hardened.

"..But I wished I graduated."

"In that case I'll tell you a secret."

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><p>"So what did you want to talk about Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked. "And what is Sasuke doing here?"<p>

"You'll find out in a moment." The window opened and Naruto jumped in. "You never use the door do you?"

"Why would I do that? This is much more fun." Iruka did a double take at her change in speech. Her usual loud and brash voice was instead clam and quiet. What happened to the loud brat that was his student? She went on to explain her chat with Mizuki and what she felt in the exam room.

"So that's his plan." Sasuke said.

"Why would Mizuki do that though?" Iruka asked.

"He wants power, and wants to use me as a scapegoat to get it." She said. Iruka was already surprised about her sudden change, but she was also not an idiot like most thought she was.

"How did you know it was him that use that seal? How do you even know that he used a seal?" He asked, hoping that this was a dream.

"I was also wondering that." The Hokage spoke.

"Her left eye." Sasuke stated. She sighed at the confused looks on the two men's faces. She removed her mask and opened her eye. Iruka had never known that she could use her left eye, so cue another double take.

"I still don't understand…." Then realization dawned on the old man's face. "What is that gold ring?"

"I do not know for sure. None of the books I have read have had anything about it. It allows me to locate, and understand seals and then recreate them." The two shinobi before them were shocked.

"Can you prove that you can indeed do the clone jutsu so that you can graduate?" She nodded and eleven clones were soon standing next to her. Iruka fell, wide eyed. The Hokage laughed and handed her the forehead protector.

"So how are we going to proceed?"Naruto asked.

"I'll give you the scroll, and then I want you to head to the location he told you about then capture him." She nodded and started her way to the scroll room.

"Hokage-sama are you sure this is a good idea? She is only a graduate, and has the lowest marks in the class.

"She will be fine." Sasuke got his attention. "She was holding back. She could easily be on the same level as me if not higher." He started walking out. "I'll follow her just to make sure she is okay." The Hokage nodded.

"I still don't know why Sasuke was here." Iruka mumbled.

"No one knows this but they are actually best friends." Iruka did another double take. This was turning into quiet the day.

"'Never would of guessed…"

"I want you to be the one who finds her, since I have to sound the alarm for a break in. I don't want anyone else to be the one to find her or she may be in more danger. Also, Iruka, I don't want Naruto to find out about 'that' so try to keep Mizuki from saying anything." Iruka nodded and left, meeting with the group of shinobi that were summoned by the alarm.

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><p>Naruto arrived at the spot that Mizuki had told her to go. The only thing left to do was wait for his arrival. She eyed the scroll. It had belonged to the Fourth Hokage, her father.<p>

_"_**_I don't think it will hurt anyone if you take a peek._" **Kurama whispered into her mind. Naruto wasn't sure what to do, but her curiosity got the better of her. She flipped open the scroll.

"Kage bushin no Jutsu?_"_ Before she started looking at it she looked over some of the other items inside the scroll. There were some seals that her eye saved into her memory, along with any warnings that went with them. She decided to try the first jutsu. She worked on it until she had mastered it. '_Now how to hide the fact that I was training with all this dirt on me…?' _Kurama chuckled then flashed a surge of chakra throughout her host's body, all dirt and signs of exhaustion gone. '_Whoa…..'_ She could tell that Iruka was starting to get closer, as did Mizuki; well that's who she thought they were anyway.

Mizuki appeared on a branch not far from where she was seated. "Naruto give me the scroll." He demanded. She acted clueless, holding the scroll close to her body. "There's no point in someone like you having it." Iruka arrived as he started talking.

"No don't say anything about that, Mizuki!" He was ignored. Mizuki threw kunai and shuriken at him, creating numerous wounds on his body.

"Twelve years ago… you know about the demon fox being sealed, right?" She nodded. "Since that day a special rule was created for this village." She looked confused. "But this rule was never meant to be told to you" he started laughing. "The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the nine tailed demon fox." She didn't know that there was such a rule. Mizuki kept talking "You were sealed up by the Hokage you admire and you have been lied to by everyone!" She started to ignore his ranting as he prepared an attack with the oversize shuriken that were strapped to his back.

"Is that what you really think?" Her soft voice halted his ranting. The Hokage had just started watching with his crystal ball. "I still do not know why people keep thinking that I am the fox." She lowered her head. "The kunai and the scroll…" She muttered. "Are you trying to turn me against the villagers?" She asked innocently. Everyone, minus Sasuke who is hiding behind a nearby tree, is completely confused."That will never work." Kurama was laughing in her cage, amused by the young red head toying with their minds. It was interrupted by Sasuke, though,

"You really like your mind games, don't you?" He deadpanned. He jumped to stand next to his childhood friend. "Mizuki, you are a traitor to the village." Mizuki now saw the trap that had been set for him; his only hope was to fight back. He aimed for the most wounded one there; Iruka. He couldn't move due to a kunai in his leg.

"**_Kit, I am going to give you a present for graduating._" **She nodded with a smile and noticed the new accessory on her left arm. The attack on Iruka was deflected by her arm. They all stared at the new metallic orange gauntlet. It covered her hand up to her elbow, the fingers ending in points. She tested it by opening and closing her fist a few times.

"I'll kill someone like you in one shot!" Mizuki cried.

"If you threaten any of my friends ever again, I will kill you" Naruto said in a dark voice. "Hey, Sasuke, mind if I take this fight on my own?" He gave her a bemused look but nodded. She put her hands into what will soon become her signature hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A good thousand of Naruto appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Great there are even more of her now…" Sasuke mumbled, only to be kicked by the closest clone.

"I heard that teme!" Within the next minute Mizuki was on the ground a bloody pulp. "I may have gone a little too far."

"Well, it looks like you two completed your first mission. Congratulations. Let's go to Ichiraku's after we report to the Hokage."

"Yes! Ramen!" When it came to ramen she was indeed as loud as she was at the academy.

"Iruka, I feel sorry for your wallet." Sasuke said as he passed them and started walking back to the village. Iruka's shoulders slumped; he knew just how right the dark haired boy was right.

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><p><strong>There is the first chapter! I don't think many other chapters will get to be this long though. I don't get many opportunities to write due to computer access, school, and life.<strong>

**Naruto's kekei genkai is new to the ninja world. She is the first to have it. It was caused by the mixture of the DNA of the Namikaze and Uzumaki. She is also able to use chakra chains, or she will she hasn't perfected them yet. **

**I need a name for it, too. Any idea?**

**-Lil  
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	2. Konohamaru and Chakra Chains

**Second chapter! I can't believe how much people seem to like this story! It makes for a big motivation when you see all the views, alerts, and favorites!**

**This is shorter than the first chapter but I wanted to upload it.**

**A little about Naruto's personality: She is quiet, sisterly/motherly towards anyone her age or younger. She  
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**Konohamaru make his debut in** **this chapter.** **I gave him and Naruto a bother/sister type of relationship. Konohamaru looks up to her as a role model.**

**Also I missed a part of her outfit when I described her in the first chapter. Naruto wears a black choker with a orange Uzumaki swirl hanging from it.  
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***Now re-edited***

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><p>Naruto was sitting in front of the Hokage waiting as he looked over her profile. After the Mizuki incident she had to explain that she already knew about Kurama, and then how it she knew. She sat quietly so the only sound was of papers moving around the desk. She looked over to the door when small footsteps ran down the hall. A young boy with an extremely long scarf ran into the room.<p>

"Fight me Old Man!" he screamed at the Hokage. He then proceeded to trip over his scarp and face plant. "Damn it, who set a trap!" He yelled as he rubbed his head.

"**_My, what an interesting kid_."** Kurama said in a monotone voice. Naruto had to nod her head in agreement.

"Are you alright? And there isn't a trap anywhere!" A shinobi with dark circular glasses asked the boy. The boy looked over at Naruto, as did the shinobi. The boy jumped up and pointed at her.

"I know! You're the one who set a trap!" She had to sweat-drop at that.

"It was not me. You tipped over your own feet." The boy repeated what he said and jabbed his finger into her chest, but she grabbed it before he could poke her.

"Hey Naruto, let him go! He's the Hokage's grandson." The glasses wearing guy said.

_"_**_So this brat is related to the Old Man_." **Kurama stated.

"Come on then! Go ahead and punch me!"

_"_**_This kid…is an idiot_"** she said in the same voice as when the boy first entered the room.

"You asked for it." She punched him on the head; not hard but it was still a punch. The glasses guy freaked out, the Hokage just gave a sigh. "Are the papers in order?" She asked, still looking at the boy.

"Yes, you may go." She left after a bow of her head.

* * *

><p>Naruto was walking down the street back to her apartment. She knew that the boy from the Hokage's office was following her. It was rather obvious. He was darting between hiding places in a way that screamed 'I'm following you!'<p>

"May I as to why you are following me?" She turned to see him trying to hide. "It would be more effective if the boards go the same direction as the fence… and that the wood matches."

"So the things they say about you are true." He pointed at her again. "Hey, I'll make you my boss, and in exchange you have to teach me how you can you can pull those pranks off without getting caught!"

"Huh…"

Kurama was laughing again. **"_AHAHAHAHA… you seem to have a fan. This kid is too amusing_."**

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Alright you win. We will start with traps."

* * *

><p>Naruto's eye twitched as she watched the boy get caught in his own trap. He now replicated a large chicken -feathers and all- hanging upside down from a tree. '<em>How? He was not even near it…'<em> I was going to take a lot of work to teach this boy. "Let us take a break, and get you…de-chickened." He got an eye twitch of his own but nodded. By the time she got him untangled she had a number of feathers tangled into her hair.

She took him back to her apartment; where he was de-chickened along with her hair. "What would you like to eat?"

"Can we have onigiri?" He asked. She nodded and smiled.

They talked about the proper way to set traps and pranks as she cooked. Once she was done she set it on the table. "By the way, why are you going after your grandfather all the time?" He stared down at his food.

"Grandpa gave me the name Konohamaru. I'm named after the village. Even though everyone knows my name nobody ever calls me that. When someone is talking about me or calling me all they ever see is the Hokage's grandson. I'm sick of no one seeing me as me; that's why I want the Hokage title."

"I know the feeling…" she muttered. Now that they were done eating they walked back to the clearing they had been before. "You know… the Hokage title isn't something you can just take. It needs to be earned through hard work."

"Really?" He asked unsure.

She opened her mouth to speak but **"_Kit, incoming!_" **She grabbed Konohamaru and ran towards a nearby tree; a kunai lodged in the ground where they had stood just moments before.

"W-what happened?" Konohamaru asked with a shaky voice. Naruto pushed him behind her as five shinobi jumped into the clearing. None of them wore headbands to state which village they were from, they looked to be at least chunin level though.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" She demanded. The closest one, also the largest chuckled.

"Now, now, calm down. We are only here for the kid, no need for a girl like you to get involved."

The smallest of the group spoke to the first. "Careful, don't underestimate her. She did dodge that attack, and quickly too."

'_I do not think I could take on all five of them…'_ Kurama told her to summon her but Naruto refused. _"Not yet. We do not know their strength or abilities. Plus I believe this would be better to flee then risk Konohamaru being injured." _The giant fox grunted an agreement.

"Hand over the kid and you won't get hurt. You wear no forehead protector so you can't be a kunoichi."

"What about you? None of you are wearing them either." She stated with a slight smile. Another spoke next.

"I like this girl. Maybe we should take her with us." The look on his face made her smile dropped.

"I would never go with the likes of you." She turned to Konohamaru. "Do not worry Konohamaru, I will not let anything happen to you." He nodded his head. '_A plan, I need a plan… Konohamaru's tutor is making his way in this direction, but it does not seem like he is aware of these men. So I will need to stall until he arrives… I know; I will use that!'_ She placed her fingers in a cross shape and five clones appeared. Four moved to surround the enemies. The last stayed with the original.

"So she is a shinobi; got a lot of chakra too, if she can use that technique." Naruto focused chakra to her eye; a gold ring circles the edge. She took out a scroll with and brush. Using the ink in the scroll's core (Like Sai's scroll) she drew a seal, placed one hand on Konohamaru's shoulder and her left on the scroll.

"Konohamaru do not move from that spot unless I tell you to." He nodded again, too scared to speak.

"Ohhh? What's that?" The only one not to not speak yet asked. He threw a kunai at each of them. Konohamaru threw up his arms to block his face, Naruto didn't move just focused on the kunai. All but her were shocked when the kunai was deflected by an invisible wall. "What? How did she?"

"The scroll," the smallest spoke again. "She is a fuinjutsu user. An advanced one at that; she must have started at a very young age. Must mean she had some rich parents to get her a teacher."

"You are incorrect. I did indeed start when I was young, but my parents never got me a teacher, couldn't. They died the day I was born." The five ninja were shocked. Konohamaru was impressed, and saddened to know that her parents weren't alive. He had thought they had simply been not home when he went to her house.

The one who had spoken before looked at where her other clones were located, his eyes widened. "Everyone move!"

"Too late." She activated her jutsu. A mix of blue and red chains wrapped around each of them.

"What? I can't move!" They all said something along those lines. "Why can't I break free?" Naruto motioned her head to her last clone. She ran up to each of the five and placed a knock-out tag on each of their foreheads. She then wrapped them up with chakra enhanced rope.

Naruto let out a deep breath and released the barrier seal. She turned to Konohamaru; who had fallen to sit on the ground. Kneeling in front of him she patted his head. "Are you alright Konohamaru?" The eight year old raised his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was scary." Then his face brightened. "You were so cool!" She gave him a bright smile.

"That is what I meant when you have to work hard towards becoming Hokage!" She sat in front of him. "My dream is also to become Hokage, for many reasons. Acknowledgement. To be strong and recognized. Most importantly I want to protect this village and all the people in it!" She added under her breath "Just like mom and dad did."

"You're right! I want to be a Hokage like that too!" he laughed. "Ne ne, can you teach me that cool chain trick?"

"My chakra chains? I am sorry but I cannot. It is not something that can be taught. It came with my blood. To be honest this was the first time that they worked correctly."

"You mean to say that there was a chance of that not working?" He yelled. The older girl gave a nervous laugh.

"I've finally found you!" Ebisu stood on a branch at the entrance to the clearing. He looked around confused at the scene but ended with cold eyes on Naruto. Jumping down he said "Now young master let's go home."

"No way! I want to kept hanging out with Naruto-nee-chan. Just watch I'm going to get the Hokage title, so don't get in my way!"

Ebisu proceeded to pull on his scarf. "If you hang out with people like her, who attract trouble, you'll be in danger! Just do what I say! I'm your easiest short-cut to becoming Hokage! Now let's go home!"

"No, just leave me alone!" How was his scarf not choking him? "Naruto-nee-chan stopped those guys who were after me! I believe what she said about becoming Hokage; There are no short-cuts, only hard work!" Ebisu still pulled on the scarf but gave a look towards Naruto.

"Just let Konohamaru go…" They stopped fighting when Naruto swayed and kneel, before sitting on the ground. '_Using so many of the chakra chains while using a seal takes too much chakra.'_

"Naruto-nee-chan are you alright?" Konohamaru ran over. She nodded her head.

The red head stood. "I am fine, just a little tired. I will be okay in a little while." They didn't realize that the Hokage was watching the clearing; he saw the whole thing and had already deployed ANBU to detain the five attackers.

Four masked shinobi dropped around the defeated. "We are here to take these nin to the T&I department." The one with the cat mask said. "Also, the Hokage-sama asks that Naruto take the young master home."

* * *

><p>They were walking back through town, Konohamaru on Naruto's back. "Naruto-nee-chan, I don't want you to be my boss anymore."<p>

"Oh?"

"From now on we are rivals!" He smiled at her, and she returned it.

"Starting tomorrow I am taking my first step as a shinobi. One day I will fight you for the Hokage title. I will be looking forward to it, Konohamaru."

* * *

><p><strong>I changed what happens when Naruto meets Konohamaru as you can see. <strong>

**She isn't all powerful. The only reason she won was due to them underestimating her until they could no longer get a chance to take her seriously. **

**About the chakra chains: The blue are made from her chakra, while Kurama's affects some of them, turning them red. She wouldn't let Kurama take part in the fight because she wanted to keep that skill a secret and not abuse it.**

**About her golden ring in her eye: The seals that she used the eye to learn, so the more advance ones, can only be used when it is activated. Once see knows them by heart and understands how they work without using the eye it doesn't matter if it is activated or not. It has to be the right eye that activates since her left never turns off.  
><strong>


	3. Metting Kakashi and the Shopping Trip

**Whoo next chapter! I thought there was something I was suppose to have put here but I can not remember what it was...  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I forgot to add this to my other chapters. I do not own Naruto or anything connected with it. This is just for entertainment purposes.**

***Now re-edited***

* * *

><p>It was finally the day of team assignments. Naruto woke up, and got dressed in her orange tank-top and black skirt. Under the skirt she wears dark blue shorts. Looking in the mirror she brushed her hair and placed on her mask. She clipped the choker behind her neck then turned to walked away. A reflection of light reminded her of the forehead protector folded on her vanity. She smiled at her reflection before pulling on her unequal mesh leggings, the left going up to her thigh while the right going only pass her knee. Before throwing on her coat and heels she wrapped the area above her right legging and fasten on her kunai holder. Double checking that she had everything she flew out the door and ran along the roof-tops to the academy.<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto sat in the same row as Sasuke with an empty seat between them. Their bench seat was in the very centre of the classroom. She tried not to look board but it was difficult. One of the boys passing her desk noticed her and stopped.<p>

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing here? Only those who passed the exam are supposed to be here." the classmate said.

"Well this says I did." she points to her forehead. Before the boy could come up with a come back a loud commotion stole the room's attention. Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura pushed each other through the door fighting over who entered first.

"Will you let me through?" Sakura said. "Naruto move! I want to sit on the other side of you!"

"_**Fangirls…."**_ Kurama hates fangirls and Sakura was the biggest one in the academy.

The rosette pushed Naruto's head into the seat when she turned to look at Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, can I sit next to you?" None of them could see it but one of his eyes was twitching.

"Let go will you!" Naruto screamed at the girl. They started bickering, oblivious to Sasuke's growing irritation. He was close to banging his head against the desk. These two never got along. Everyone who had gone back to their own conversations had refocused in on the fight. Finally Sasuke had had enough; he stood walked over to them, picked them up by the back of their shirts and dropped them as far away from his seat as he could. They didn't stop fighting either.

"What was that for?" Naruto asked him. He _smirked_. "Fine then." She jumped up to him, grabbed his forehead protector and ran.

"Hey, Naruto, give that back to me!" He chased after her. Everyone one of his fangirls screamed at the red head to leave 'Sasuke-kun' alone.

The Hokage and the new jounin senseis were watching the whole scene. They found it rather amusing.

Iruka was utterly confused to the scene he walked into. Naruto running laps around the room, an angry Sasuke behind her, and every other girl other than Hinata screaming at her. "Sit down. **Now**." Naruto stopped running; Sasuke failed to stop and crashed into her. They laid there in a crumpled heap. "**Now**." They quickly pulled themselves up and returned to their seats. This time the seating order for their row was: Sakura, Sasuke, and then Naruto.

"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi. But you are still genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just started." Naruto zoned out to listen to Kurama reciting and mocking Iruka's speech, word for word too. She could barely contain the need to laugh. "Okay Team Seven is Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke" Naruto had to plug her ears; Sakura was even louder than she was when she was acting the fool… or when ramen is involved.

_"**Hey, look at that. Your plan actually worked."**_

"_It had better have worked. I hate people calling me 'Dead last'" _Even though she didn't want to spend time with Sakura she had promised herself that her new team would eat lunch together. Now the only problem was getting them to eat what she made. Before they could leave she grabbed both of their arms and dragged them to a spot. A lunch was dropped on each person's lap.

"You cooked lunch for the team?" Sasuke asked. She nodded.

"Is this safe to eat…?" Sakura muttered.

_"**Ouch. Can you please hurt her?" **_

"_No, of course not, she is one of my teammates."_ Once Naruto started eating Sasuke soon followed. Sakura still stared at it. "Eat." She said in a dark tone. Sakura quickly nodded her head and started eating.

"Wow, this is actually really good." Sakura mumbled around her food.

* * *

><p>They had been waiting for <em>hours<em> and their sensei was yet to arrive. "That is it." Naruto got up from her seat and went over to the door. After looking to see if the coast was clear she started drawing above the door.

"You aren't going to do that to our sensei are you?" Sasuke asked.

"Do what?" Sakura asked.

"He deserves it. There is no reason that our sensei would be the only one not to arrive yet." She finished a one-time seal above the door.

"What is that?" Sakura asked,

"She's planting a prank on our sensei. Poor guy…"

When a man with gravity defining silver hair and a mask poked his head through the doorway he was greeted by a large amount of very cold water. Kurama was hysterical, giving Naruto a slight headache.

"_Yup, poor guy…"_ Sasuke thought to himself. Naruto had tested that seal on him one time. He never want it to be used against him again. The water was _cold_.

"How can I say this..? My first impression is… I despise you guys. Meet me on the roof in ten minutes." He left mumbling about evil red heads and now needing a change of clothes.

* * *

><p>"Well, let's begin with introducing yourselves. State your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams, things like that."<p>

"Why not go first Sensei." Naruto asked.

"Me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi, I won't tell you my likes or dislikes, I have a lot of hobbies, and dreams: never really thought about it."

"All he told us was his… name?" Sakura whispered to her teammates.

'_Is he the Kakashi from the picture I got out of the letter?' _Naruto wondered.

"Let's start on the right." He motioned for Naruto to start.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, seals, foxes, and training. What I dislike is waiting for ramen to cook, and being hated for a reason out of my control."

'_So she knows about the Kyuubi' _Kakashi thought. '_Seals, when did she get the chance to learn those?'_

"My dream is to surpass the previous Hokages to protect the village, and then have the people of this village acknowledged my existence. As for hobbies… pranks, gardening, cooking, and reading."

'_Naruto __**reading**__?'_ Sakura never would have thought that being her hobby.

"Next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of thing I dislike and I don't really like anything." He received a kick to the shin from Naruto for that one. "I have an ambition; The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Ok… Lastly pinky."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like… well the person I like is… and my dream for the future…" All pauses made to squeal while looking at her male team-mate.

'_Fangirl…'_ They all thought wanting to smash their heads against the wall. Kakashi went on to tell them about the training the next day. That it would be a test and the chances of failing.

* * *

><p>"Sakura, can I ask you something?" Naruto asked as they were leaving.<p>

"Umm… sure"

"Would you like to go shopping to get some things for the test tomorrow? We can stop at some other places, too." Then she turned to Sasuke "You may come too." Her two team-mates nodded their heads, Sasuke because he needed to go shopping and Sakura because Sasuke was going

Going around the shopping district they stopped at the weapons shops first to restock their stores of kunai and shuriken. The three chatted about everyday things as they walked. Sakura was ecstatic that Sasuke spoke to her. This was the most she had ever heard the boy speak, ever.

"Can we stop here? I wanted to get some seeds for my garden." Naruto asked. Team seven was standing in front of the Yamanaka flower shop. Naruto didn't wait for a reply and entered. When the other two enter they were surprised to see Ino behind the counter. The girl was equally surprised to see the trio together. "Do you have any daylily seeds?" Naruto asked. Ino quickly got her some.

Ino was quick to start flirting with Sasuke which started a fight between her and Sakura. It actually took Naruto dragging the rosette out of the store to break it up.

"Are we almost done?" Sasuke asked.

"Just one more place." Naruto replied. He froze when she stopped walking and pointed to a building.

"Hell no." was all he said.

"A spa? Why would we come here?" Sakura asked.

"The workers here are really good at manicures. I come here all the time." Naruto explained.

"Manicure? You don't really seem the type to care about their nails." The rosette said. Sasuke tried to sneak away as they talked but was captured by the red head without her even looking at reason for his attempt at escape; She had taken him here once in the past when she first found it. He refused to go but she dragged him there and tied him to a chair. Then, saying he had lost a dare and this was the price, had them do his nails. She was kind enough to let them use clear polish, though.

"This place was made for female ninja, they have a special nail polish that does not fade or chip for a long time and it makes breaking a nail near impossible. They do not cost much either."

"In that case then sure, I'm up for one." Naruto grabbed her and Sasuke's arm.

"Hello Tsume-san." Naruto called as she walked in. A middle aged woman with pale blond hair was sitting at the front desk.

"Ah, Naruto-chan, you're back and you brought friends." The red head walked over and ordered two manicures. "Kugi-chan can you come and help me with these clients?" The woman called into the back. A younger girl ran up to the front. Kugi was Tsume's daughter who helped out around the spa. "This way please."

Naruto and Sakura sat at the tables as Sasuke leaned against the wall nearby. Naruto requested for a dark orange-red color and Sakura asked for a pink that matched her hair color.

"So what's the reason you keep your nails so long?" Sakura asked.

"Well… other than making them look nice and protecting them, it is also because this way if I ever used up or lose my weapons I could use my nails to attack." It was also because Kurama had given her the idea and said she was going to teach her a trick that would require strong nails.

Time passed in relative silence. Sakura was the one to break the silence, waking up Sasuke who had dosed off still standing. "You know.., you seem a lot different than how you are at the academy."

Naruto smiled a little. "The way I act at school is just an act. That hyperactive happy girl is just to show the villagers that what they say does not affect me. Even when there are times that they do." Sakura got a thoughtful look on her face.

They didn't speak again until their manicures were finished. "Look at the time! I need to get home!" Sakura said, she started running but stopped and turned back. "Thanks for today, it was fun!" It was true that was some of the most fun she had had in a while. The same was true for the other members of the team.

"See you tomorrow." Naruto waved. Sasuke gave a small wave as his own. They all separated and went home to prepare for the next day. Naruto could see that Sakura wasn't any where near as bad as she had thought while in the academy. Hopefully they wouldn't fight like they do. Little did she know Sakura was thinking the same thing.

* * *

><p><strong>I think I remember what it was now... or not.<strong>

**-Lil  
><strong>


	4. The Bell Test: Birth of Team Seven

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything connected with it. This is just for entertainment purposes.**

***Now re-edited***

* * *

><p>Team Seven met up at the training grounds for the test, but they couldn't find Kakashi anywhere! They each sat down against one of the three posts and slowing started drifting off to slumber. It was an hour later when Kakashi arrived.<p>

"Good morning! Sorry I'm late I got lost on the road of life." They all jumped up rubbing their eyes trying to become as alert as possible.

"…Road of life?" Naruto muttered. The jounin pulled an alarm clock out of nowhere and placed it on top of the post behind Naruto.

Kakashi set the alarm for noon, explained that the test was to get one of two bells from his before the time is up. "Begin!" Three blurs disappeared into the trees.

'_There is no way for a gennin to defeat a jounin… so attacking alone is out of the question…'_ Naruto thought. Her perch in the trees gave a clear view of the field.

_"**Why don't we see what he can do first?"**_ Kurama said, her red haired host nodded and created two shadow clones. One ran to the water behind Kakashi to hide and the other ran to another tree and jumped into the clearing.

"Let us fight fair and square for a bell." Even from her tree she could see the sweat drop that the jounin had.

'_What is that idiot doing?'_ Sakura thought.

"You're a little bit off compared to the others…"

"The only thing off here is your hair!" the clone charged but stopped when Kakashi put his hand in his pouch.

"Shinobi fighting lesson number one: taijutsu." Everyone froze when what Kakashi pulled out was not a weapon but a book. "What's wrong? Hurry up and attack me."

"Why did you take out a book?" The clone asked.

"I just want to know what happens next. But don't worry, it won't make a difference against you guys." The clone was more than angry. She sent a flurry of attacks only for each of them to be blocked or dodged. He only attacked once, a kick that sent her into the water where she dispelled.

The gained knowledge and experience was sent back to the original._ 'That water is really cold…'_ The other clone that was already in the water attacked with weapons. They were also stopped. Kakashi wasn't even fazed. He just laughed a perverted laugh at whatever he was reading. The original removed her eyes from the fight between her clone, Kakashi and the five other clones she had just sent to help delay him. She jumped through the trees looking for signs of her team-mates.

To her luck she found them not far from each other. Sakura was lying behind some bushes and Sasuke was seated in a tree just behind the bushes. "Sasuke, Sakura." They swung around surprised.

"Huh? Naruto what are you doing over here? Aren't you supposed to be out there with the clones?" Sakura asked.

"I sent them to delay and gather information on Kakashi-sensei." The girl replied. They moved so they were deeper in the trees. "From what I can tell there is no way for any of us to pass by ourselves. We will need to work together."

"So we need a plan." Sasuke said.

"But what if we get the bells? There are only two so who goes back to the academy?" Silence.

"I did not think of that…" Naruto admitted.

"Wait. You don't think that that is part of the test?" Sasuke said. The females of the team gave him a strange look. "I mean what if the point of the test is teamwork? There being only two bells would put us against each other so it's to test if we can put the team ahead of ourselves."

"Wow Sasuke-kun! You're amazing!" The two others shook their heads at the girl's fangirl-ness. Surprisingly she snapped out of it. "Then how do we get the bells?" They thought for a moment.

Naruto's head shot up. "My last clone just dispelled. There is nothing delaying him from coming to find us. We must hurry." They could hear her mutter a "Dispelled by an obvious trap too… if they find out about that it will be embarrassing."

"The only idea I can think of is to have two of us distract him and the other hides then when they get a chance restrain him and another takes the bells." Sasuke finally said. "I'll distract."

"I have no way of restraining him so I'll distract too." Sakura volunteered.

"I can use my chakra chains to keep him still, but it will be difficult to get to him for the bells before he escapes." Naruto said.

"If only we had one more person." Sakura muttered.

"**Aren't you forgetting about someone?"** Kurama proofed into existence on top of Naruto's head with one tail. In her one tail form she is about the size of Akumaru. Sakura screamed. Naruto and Sasuke quickly muffled it with their hands.

"Do you want him to find us?" Sasuke asked/demanded. She shook her head.

"I will explain her to you later." Naruto promised the rosette. "Kurama, why do you want to help us?"

"**I'm deathly bored and you guys seemed like you could use the help."**

"Okay then. So here is the plan." Naruto said.

* * *

><p>Kakashi was a little surprised when all of the Naruto's that had come at him were just clones. He went off to find the gennin-to-be. He found the pink haired one and placed her under a genjutsu, she screamed and passed out. Then she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, first into Naruto then out of existence. '<em>A clone disguised as Sakura? Could they be…?' <em>A smile began to work its way onto his face.

Sasuke jumped into the next clearing Kakashi entered. He started by throwing a large number of weapons repeatedly. He threw a kick, Kakashi caught it. He threw a punch, Kakashi caught it. He threw yet another kick, Kakashi blocked it. He reached for the bells, Kakashi jumps away.

A kunai flies from another direction than the Uchiha. More kunai fly from the same direction as Sakura jumps down to join the Uchiha who is flying through hand signs.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" A large fireball lit up the clearing. Kakashi was forced to dodge closer to the nearby river rather than underground like he had planed due to explosion tags going off underfoot. '_I'm really starting to like these kids. Now where is the last one?' _He looked around but could only see the two soon-to-be genin in the vicinity. _'Where is the other on?'_

Naruto was under water with Kurama ready with her chains. She made sure that they were all blue so as not to burn her sensei like Kurama's do. Seeing the water lighten she sent her chains, one with Kurama hanging to it, at the spot where she could now see her sensei.

Kakashi was unable to move, he looked down to see glowing blue chains wrapped around him. Two blurs passed him. One blur directly next to him, and the other out of the water holding the chains. '_She can use chakra chains? There isn't anyone in the village that could have taught her that!'_ His shocked grew when he saw what was in the smaller blur's, what he now recognized as a fox, mouth. The bells.

The fox jumped on to the red head's head and dropped the bells into her open palm. "It looks like we passed, Sensei." She said with a large smile.

"I can see that… But who are you going to let pass and who are you going to fail?" He asked. The girl grinned wider and passed one of the bells to each of her team-mates. A hidden smile graced his face. "Oh? Why would you do that?"

"They are my team-mates, why would I not help them? They did most of the work anyway."

"Well, congratulations to the three of you, you are the first team to ever pass my test." Two loud cheers and a much more subdued one came from the now official team seven. "Now, can you let me go?" He said eyeing the chains.

"Oh, sorry." And he was free.

* * *

><p>Before they left Naruto had to tell both Kakashi and Sakura about Kurama. Kakashi: so that he knew she knew about the kyuubi,while being on good terms with the fox, and that she wasn't dangerous… well not very. Sakura: she had promised. It took longer since she had to explain everything about the seal and that she and the fox were different entities. Since she was already explaining it she figured she might as well explain her left eye and her family. She swore them not to tell anyone about her heritage; To which they agreed.<p>

When asked why Sasuke wasn't freaking out with them they had to tell them that they were actually childhood friends and that he already knew all of it. So with a shell-shocked Sakura and a surprised jounin sensei they went home for the day.

Over the next few weeks of D-ranks Sakura became good friends with the other two members of the team. They showed her and Kakashi the underground training area, where Sakura now also trains and has her own room like the others. Kakashi was amazed that such a place was in Konoha while remaining hidden.

The underground training area now held Naruto's seal room, Sasuke's jutsu and fighting study room (Like theory not actual training room), Sakura's medical room (She had found books about medical ninjutsu and wished to learn it to support the team…. They get hurt a lot, whether during training or missions so she gets a lot of practice.), and the library. They let Kakashi have the 'key' to the area along with them.

* * *

><p><strong>There is another chapter! They have officially become ninja! Next chapter will be the start of the wave arc! WHOOO!<strong>

**I would have updated sooner but I didn't have the chapter written and all weekend I was play closed beta Tera... wipe after it end this weekend... I shall miss my character until I recreated it... Have to start alllllll over! T.T **

**Please tell me what you think about how I changed the test. I wasn't sure how to write my version of the characters into the canon way so I made it up... I started Sakura on her way to becoming a real konoichi now since I think that would be cool and in a way it makes sense. They started working together as a team during the test so why not help their teammate become stronger?  
><strong>

**-Lil  
><strong>


	5. Barbecue and Start of Wave Mission

**I think I will try to write this chapter in first person P.o.V. Might switch whose point of view it is throughout the chapter.**

**The first part of this chapter had me laughing the whole time I wrote it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything connected with it. This is just for entertainment purposes.**

**Reviews:**

**Emerald Kigo: Thanks, and I hope everything works out for the team too.**

***Now re-edited***

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><p>Before we all head to the Hokage office for today's mission Kakashi has given us the idea to stop for something to eat first. None of the others want ramen so that leaves us to where we are now; Sitting in the barbecue restaurant that Team ten always comes to.<p>

When Kurama heard of where we were heading she demanded being fed. The last time I fed her outside of the cage was about a month ago so I agree.

Finally, the food is here! Almost every kind of meat is sitting in front of us.

"**It looks amazing! Let's eat!"** I swear there are rainbows flowing off of her. Her paws are clapped together and she is drooling rivers. All of the meat is thrown onto the barbecue. There isn't even any space for any more!

"We should hurry before the meat becomes either burnt or Kurama inhales it all." That is practically what she is doing. When the meat is cooked, it gets shovelled onto her plate, and then eaten the next second. All we can do is look on with mock horror and try to grab any meat we can. Most of the meat is gone now... is it just me or is it disappearing twice as fast now?

Looking up I see Choji sitting across from me. Shikamaru, Ino, and their sensei are standing behind him with the same expression as us. Confused and scared. All movement stops. The reason? There is only one piece left. Choji and Kurama are locked in a glaring contest. Curious I look at everyone else's faces. Kakashi and Shikamaru look uneffected, Sakura and Ino look repulsed, Team Ten's sensei looks like he does not know what to do. Sasuke's expression was the oddest of them all. He had a evil glint to his eyes with a mischievous grin.

What he does next changes everyone's reactions. He quickly snatched the last piece of beef from the grill and eats it. He eyes them with a triumphant smirk. There is a few seconds of stuned silence before all hell breaks loose. Sasuke's smirk is gone when both Choji and Kurama pounce.

**"Damn Uchiha Brat!"** I can not help but double over in laughter. He is being forced to run from them! Ino is screeching at Choji to stop; Sakura is quick to join her.

"Asuma-sensei do something!" The blond screams. So their Sensei's name is Asuma. Well Asuma does not know what to do yet again. Through the tears my laughing caused I see Kakashi sitting there doing nothing with one of his eye smiles.

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru sighs, but I can tell he wants to laugh too.

"Naruto get the fox off me!" Sasuke pleas. Kurama is clinging to his face trying to rip it to shreds. This sends me into even more laughter. "Naruto! Help! Kakashi-sensei don't just sit there!" Shikamaru was now right next to me on the floor laughing, Choji had left his anger and was on the ground with us too. Sakura had given up helping the raven and was giggling. "If I buy you some more meat will you stop trying to kill me?"

Kurama instantly jumped off **"I'm okay with that." **I think she planed that.

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><p>Kurama is sitting on my head twice her size. Sasuke is morning over his now empty wallet. "It's like buying Naruto ramen..." He muttered. We are now walking to the Hokage's office for our first mission of the day.<p>

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><p>That mission was terrible... we had to catch this cat named Tora. The cat hates me! Sasuke, as payback for what happened at the restaurant, made me carry her all the way back!<p>

"Now Team Seven your next mission is... babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighbouring village, and help with the potato digging." More chores *_Sigh_* Can we not have something better?

"Is there nothing else we can do?" I ask. I could tell Kurama was about to say something too, and her's would not be anywhere near polite so I spoke up. Sasuke and Sakura look like they agree with me.

The Old man thinks it over before speaking. "Kakashi do you think that they are ready for a C-rank?" Kakashi nodded. "Then I'll give Team Seven their first C-rank. It is an escort mission to the Land of Waves." Land of Waves? Is that not near where Whirlpool use to be? "Let me introduce who you will be escorting." The door opens behind us.

"What's this? A bunch of brats? A they really ninjas? Am I to expect three kids and a fox to protect me?" A old man wearing civilian clothing leans against the door frame. In his hand is a sake bottle that most definitely not full; If the blush on his face is anything to go by.

**"What was that?"** Kurama jumped at the old man.

"Kurama you can not attack the person we are supposed to protect." I scowled.

**"So what if he is a little beat up as long as we get him there?"** He actually looked a little nervous.

"I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge." Kakashi turned to all of us.

"Okay, I want all of you to meet up at the main gate in an hour. Also, pack for a long trip." The three of us nod and leave to pack.

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><p>"Naruto where is your pack?" Kakashi asked when I get to the gate. Without saying anything I take out two scrolls. "Oh... That makes sense..."<p>

"Sasuke, Sakura can I give you something before we leave?" They turned as I throw each a box. "To celebrate our first true mission outside the village."

Sasuke opened his first. Inside is a holster with longer than usual kunai that could attach to his leg warmers. "They can be used as either a sword or kunai. I saw you practising with a sword so thought you could use them."

Next Sakura opened hers. Her box contains two things; a neckless and a arm holster full of senbon. "For you I got you a holster with senbon. You are studying medical ninjutsu that requires you to study the human body. That knowledge can be used to make those much more deadly. The neckless comes apart into a small knife that can be used for a number of things."

"Wow, thanks Naruto." Sakura said, putting on the neckless and holster.

"Thanks." Sasuke did the same with his leg holster.

"Now then let us go!"

"Am I really going to be safe with these brats?" Guess who. I refuse to say anything to this infuriating man.

"Well, I'm a jounin so don't worry... Plus you can count on them to be able to handle any thugs we may come across."

_"Kurama did you just notice the change in Tazuna's scent?"_ The fox nodded. He seems really tense, like he knows something will happen that we don't.

_**"Can you smell them?"** _What does she me- oh!

_"Yes. Two ninjas in the trees behind us. Should we say anything?"_ The fox shook her head.

**"**_**They may not be there because of us. Let's watch them for now." **_With that we start on our way to the wave country.

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><p>(I give up on first person, so back to third)<p>

The convoy of bridge builder and guards walked down the forest road talking. The topic changed every so often. When they passed a puddle most of the group noticed it, but when Kakashi made no move they left it alone.

Kakashi moved so that he was at the back of the group. When the two shinobi that Naruto and Kurama had smelled earlier in the trip raised out of the water and caught Kakashi in their chains the others quickly noticed.

"One down." Their Sensei was no more. "Two down." They breathed down Naruto's neck. She ducked down while Sasuke jumped up and pinned the chain to the closest tree. Naruto flipped onto their gauntlets and kicked back with both feet, one for each face.

Dismantling the chain they separated and went after a different target. One at Naruto, and the other at Tazuna. Sakura guarded the bridge builder with a kunai. Sasuke jumped in front of both of them to protect them.

The one who went after the third member received a kick to the jaw then wrapped with chakra chains, the pendulum end to each digging into the ground.

Inches away from the other's gauntlet reaching Sasuke, Kakashi clotheslined him. "Naruto, sorry about not stepping in sooner. You got hurt."

"What do you mean?" She gave him a confused look then looked at her hand. "Oh..." There was a thin cut across the top of her hand.

"Either way good job all of you." He tied the two enemies to a tree. "Tazuna-san I need to talk to you. These guys are chuunin class ninja from Kiri. They are ninjas known to keep fighting no matter what."

"How did you read our movements?" one of the enemy-nin demanded.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days a puddle shouldn't exist." Kakashi said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Plus you have been following us since we left the main gate." Everyone stared at the red head. "What?"

"Why didn't you say anything then?" Sakura screamed. She got angry when all Naruto did was shrug.

Kakashi and Tazuna had a long talk about the mission and it was decided that they would continue on. "Naruto, we should treat your hand soon."

"Okay." She took out a kunai and ran it across her skin.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura cried.

"I guess that's one way to get the poison out..." Kakashi sighed. "If you're not careful you will die from blood lost."

"It is fine." She took out a cloth to clean away the blood to reveal a already healing cut.

"That is quiet the healing ability you have there." Tazuna said.

"Like I said: It is fine." She dressed the wound to be safe though. "Let us keep moving now." They started walking again. Sakura was lecturing Naruto about how self inflicted harm is bad and the like. She was mostly ignored.

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><p>While crossing the water in the Tazuna's friend's boat Tazuna explained the story behind the bridge and the country. All about Gatou and what he is trying to do. He even tried to guilt-trip them into helping him by talking about his daughter and grandson. Even though they had already decided to help Wave. Their resolve to help was hardened by the story though.<p>

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><p><strong>There is chapter five!<strong>

**-Lil**


	6. Team Seven VS Zabuza Take I

**I must thank sendicard for their review. It gave me a lot of helpful things to improve my story.**

***Now re-edited***

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><p>Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Tazuna made their way down the road after being dropped off by the boat. Kurama said that she wanted a nap so she went back into her cage. But that nap wasn't a long one. But instead of coming back out she decided to talk off Naruto's inner ear. But they stopped the mindless chatter when Kurama cried <strong>"<em>Kit<em>!"** There was someone or something behind the bush on their left.

_"I know."_ The kunoichi fired a shuriken into the bush.

"Naruto what are you doing?" Sakura screamed. The girl ran over to the bush. "Look at what you did!" Behind the bush was a white rabbit shaking under the embedded shuriken.

"A snow rabbit?" She picked it up and started to hug it to apologize, but she was also reaching out with her senses to find who had switched with the rabbit. _"There!" _

She fired a kunai at a tree as Kakashi ordered "Everyone get down!" The kunai passed a spinning sword that would have decapitated all of them had they not ducked. The owner of the sword caught the kunai in mid-flight on his way to stand on the hilt of his blade. He was shirtless and had cow print arm and leg warmers. His lower face was hidden by bandages."Well well, if it isn't Momocho Zabuza. I want all of you to stay and guard Tazuna while I take him on."

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi. Sorry, but the old man has to die." Zabuza stated.

"Do not enter the fight, that is the teamwork here. Zabuza to get to them you have to first fight me." the silver haired jounin lifted his headband to reveal a red eye with spinning black dots.

"I already get to see the famous sharingan. I'm honoured. Now let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man." The three genin took formation in front of Tazuna. Naruto at his left, Sakura to his right, and Sasuke to his front.

Zabuza pushed off from the tree and disappeared. "He'll come after me first. Momochi Zabuza... as a member of the Hidden Mist he was know as an expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful."

"The mist... it is getting thicker." Naruto informed.

"Eight choices. Liver, lungs, spin, clevical vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart... Which on should I go after?" Zabuza's bodiless voice echoed around them. A large amount of killing intent was unleashed from both jounin level shinobi.

Sasuke was starting to shake, his kunai pointing towards him. Naruto grabbed his arm from her spot next to him as Kakashi spoke. "Sasuke... Don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." He turned to them and gave them a double eye smile. "I don't let my comrades die."

"We'll see about that!" Zabuza was standing in the centre of their formation poised to strike all of them at once. "It's over." Before he could strike a silver blur stabbed a kunai into his torso while pushing the four others out of harms way. Water leaked from the wound.

"Sensei, behind you!" Naruto warned. The large sword cleaved their sensei in half, only for him to turn to water like Zabuza had done before.

"Don't move." Kakashi's kunai was aimed at the missing nin's throat.

"It's over? You don't get it. There is no way you can defeat me with your monkey like imitations. But that was impressive. At that time you had already copied my water clone jutsu. You had your clone say those words to attract my attention. While the real you stayed in the mist and watched. Nice plan. But..." he turned to water. "I'm also not that easy."

The two jounin exchanged blows, then Kakashi was kicked into the water. "Fool. Water Prison Jutsu." A orb of water surrounded and trapped him. "You tried to escape to the water. Big mistake. Now I have you in an inescapable prison." The Kiri-nin turned to the genin then back to their sensei. "It's tougher if you can't move, right?" He placed his free hand in a seal in front of his mouth. "Now, Kakashi, we can finish things later. First I'll take care of them."

A water clone walked on shore hanging its' arms. He muttered as he walked closer. "Wearing those head bands and acting like shinobi. A real shinobi is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. Only when you're good enough to be listed in my handbook, can you start calling yourself shinobi. You are not shinobi." The clone disappeared mid-step.

Naruto was sent flying back, her headband now trapped under the clones foot. Hidden from the others her mask slowly slipped off. The gold ring around her demonic eye spun as if reacting to the light. The gold then leaked into her cerulean one. As the gold moved Kurama stirred around in her cage. "Just brats." The original Zabuza muttered to Kakashi.

The jounin didn't think there was a way for them to get out of this fight alive unless they ran. "Take Tazuna-san and run! You have no chance of beating him. As long as he's keeping me trapped in this prison he can't move. The water clone cannot move very far from the real body. Just run away!" The genin and Tazuna were sweating bullets. Naruto turned towards the clone, her eyes hidden in the shadow of her bangs. Flashing through her mind were all the memories of her promises and everything she said. There was no way she would give up or abandon a comrade.

With her eyes still hidden she ran at the clone, grabbing her headband as she was thrown back. "Naruto what are you doing? You can't just attack him by yourself! We genin have no chance against him!" Sakura lectured.

"Sakura wait." Sasuke whispered when he saw what was in the red head's hand. The others soon notice it too.

A bit of blood dripped from her mouth. She had bitten her tongue by mistake when she was hit. "Hey, you eyebrow-less freak." Her voice was quieter than usual but could be heard easily in the clearing. "Put this in you handbook. The girl who will one day become Hokage..." She knotted the headband around her head and lifted it to stare into the clone's eyes. "Leaf Village kunoichi, Uzumaki Naruto." Zabuza was surprised to see her eyes. Tazuna would be too but he couldn't see her face from where he stood.

"You... Brat, what is with your eyes?" She actually looked confused until she raised her hand to her cheek.

"Oh... my mask came off..." But she shrugged it off and turned herself half way towards the rest of her team, keeping her eyes on the enemy. "Sasuke listen."

"What is it?" the raven asked.

"I have a plan. It is time for us to go wild." She rubbed her bandaged hand across her mouth.

Inside his prison Kakashi was freaking out. "What are you doing? Run! This fight was over the moment I was caught! Our duty is to protect Tazuna-san! Did you forget that?"

Naruto started, then turned towards the old bridge builder. At the first look of her left eye he was frightened. But he quickly composed himself and sighed. "I planted this seed myself. I'm not going to now say that I desire to live so much that I'd stop you. I'm sorry guys. Fight as much as you want." That was not what Kakashi had wanted to hear. The genins on the other hand smirked.

"You hear that?" Sasuke said as he moved to stand next to his team-mate. She nodded her head.

Their smiles dropped when the clone began to laugh; His whole body shook with them. "You guys will never grow up! Going to keep "playing" shinobi, eh?" He held out his hand as if to show them something. What he said next was unnerving. "When I was about your age these hands were already dyed red with blood."

Kakashi thought that if he told them about the 'Devil Zabuza''s graduation exam it might finally scare them enough to run. They certainly were stunned. The devil looked to the sky, "That sure was..." without moving his head he looked at the genin "**Fun**!" He surged forward and knocked Sasuke away from the others, towards the water. He backhanded him, then used the same arm to smash the younger nin into the ground with a chakra infused strike. A unhealthy amount of blood left his mouth.

Sakura cried his name and Kurama stirred in her cage and screamed at her host "**_Kit, summon me. You need my help! And not just my one tailed form._"** The host nodded her head as she summoned a large amount of kagebushins. They each took out a kunai except for the original who stood back and away from all the others in the clearing.

The shadow clones jumped and dived onto the clone kunais pointed down. With a swipe of his sword Zabuza sent all the clones away. All but one dispersed. "Sasuke!" As that one slid across the ground she threw him a closed fuma shuriken. He caught it and got her plan right away. He spun and opened it.

Before he threw it all attention was sent back to the original Uzumaki. She stood with both hands on the ground, large black ink-like markings spreading out around her for about a meter in each direction. A cloud of smoke hid her from view. Then a large amount of her chains, all red, burst from the smoke in a large ball. They unwound to revealed a snarling two-tailed fox with demonic eyes poised around the red head. The fox was about the height of Naruto, her tails were on the girl's left while her head was next to the girl's head on the right. Everyone blinked in surprise. "Sasuke, hurry and throw the shuriken."

He shook off his bewilderment and jumped high into the air. He released the shadow windmill with all his strength. "That won't work on me." The clone tuned to follow its path when it passed him. Kurama was not far behind, tearing through the clone and continuing after the shuriken. "It seems that you're aiming at the real me. That's won't work." then he muttered "The fox might be a problem though." He caught the spinning shuriken and prepared to throw it at the charging fox. Thinking quick when he saw another shuriken in the first's shadow he jumped over it. "Still not enough."

"He dodged it!" Sakura cried. On the shore Sasuke smirked. In a burst of smoke the shuriken turned into the second female of the group revealing that the one on the shore wasn't the original but another clone. The previously transformed girl fired one of her chakra chains at the jounin forcing him to let go of the water sphere while cutting his cheek. Anger clear on his face he swung the shuriken he had caught at the girl. He was stopped both by her jounin-sensei catching it on the metal plate of his glove with a murderous look in his eye and a even angrier bijuu biting down on his arm. "Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried happily.

"Naruto, great plan. You guys have grown up..."

"I got distracted and released the jutsu..." Zabuza said without moving.

"Wrong. You didn't release it. You were forced to release it. I'll tell you that I don't fall for the same jutsu twice. What will you do?" When the two jounin jumped apart Kurama release her hold on the kiri-nin to pick her host out of the water and carry her to the shore on her back. They could hear a faint mumble of "I hate water..." from the girl causing her sensei to chuckle.

The two elder shinobi raged battle with a number of devastating water jutsu. Kurama ran back out onto the water to attack when she could, but it was difficult when the water was swirling around so much that she could barley remain standing. Those on shore weren't having any better luck with that.

The battle resulted in Zabuza pinned to a tree after being washed to shore with a giant wave that threatened to wash away all the other members in the clearing. Suddenly two senbon pieced his neck and he fell to the ground.

All eyes snapped to the tree across from Kakashi. Standing there was a masked boy with long black hair tied up in a bun. The hunter-nin and Kakashi spoke, then the hunter-nin left with Zabuza's body.

**"Kit, that boy..."** Naruto nodded as she replaced her mask with an uneasy look on her whiskered face. Sakura was also uneasy.

Kakashi re-hid his eye as he spoke and walked over to his team "Now we have to get Tazuna-san back home. Let's go."

"Super thanks guys! Come over to my house and relax for a while!" Kakashi took a step forward and his face met the dirt.

"What is wrong!" Naruto asked with a worried voice. The others asked the same.

"Used to much chakra..." The silver scarecrow blacked out. Kurama volunteered to carry him since she didn't get to come out that often her size. The whole way to Tazuna's house he eyed the oversized fox. To scare him she gave him a hungry look and licked her lips. She was soon scolded by the red head walking next to her.

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><p><strong>Sorry it is a little rushed at the end... <strong>

**-Lil**


	7. Training and Recovery

**Here is Chapter Seven. I am triple checking this chapter to make sure it is better than previous chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything affiliated with it. This is purely for entertainment.**

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><p>It didn't take long for Team Seven and Tazuna to arrive at Tazuna's house; a small two story house on the corner of the elevated street. Upon opening the door a woman with long dark blue hair wearing a faded pink top and black skirt greeted them. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, ushered them into a back room once she saw the condition of the eldest shinobi. With him still unconscious and nothing to do they resorted to sitting around to wait for him to wake.<p>

Sakura was seated next to their sensei replacing a cold compress when needed. Next to her was Tsunami opening all the windows to let a cool breeze flow throughout the room. It was deathly hot inside the house. Tazuna was sprawled out like a starfish dabbing a towel to his forehead a little away from the futon where Kakashi rests. Sasuke was next to him seated with one arm out behind him, the other resting on his curled up leg. Naruto was seated against the wall reading a book about elemental chakra control. At her feet was a curled up Kurama, still in her two tails form. No one was really speaking.

The masked girl low voice shattered the silence. "How long do you plan to stay in that form, Kurama?" Everyone turned to the red fox.

**"Why? I like this form better."** she said without lifting her head or even opening her eyes.

"Due to the large amount of chakra it takes to hold that form I would appreciate it if you returned to the cage or at least loose a tail."

**"Fine."** The large fox stood, red chains sprung from the ground to wrap around her form. When they returned to the ground Kurama's one tailed form hopped down. Her and her host turned to the others. **"What?"** Tazuna and Tsunami stared with wide eyes, taking on the impression of a fish. The small fox turned away from them and returned to her previous stance of sleeping. A muttered** "Civilians.."** could be heard by those closest, Naruto and Sasuke, who smiled as if they had heard a joke. It was silent for another minute before it was Tazuna who spoke.

"So that fox there is the same one who attacked that ninja before...?" Said fox turned to give him a look that clearly stated 'Are you serious?' Once Naruto nodded at the old man he asked another question. "...How did it change size like that?" Kurama's eye twitch at being referred to as 'it' was ignored.

"The one and two tailed form of Kurama are only fractions of herself." At the blank look she was given she sighed. Her team-mates were listening too, even having it explained before they still didn't understand it fully. "The Kurama you see here is not anywhere near her full size or strength. The more power she has the more it takes to summon her. It is even more difficult to control that power as it grows." Tazuna was now sitting up.

"Okay..." He didn't really get it but would pretend he did. "So, how much larger can it grow?" Again the eye twitch was ignored.

"This is her one tailed form, you have seen her two tailed, and she has a total of nine." She informed.

"Nine? That many? Damn, I can't even imagine how big it can get with that." Eye twitch yet again, but this time it couldn't be ignored. Reason: she snapped.

**"THAT'S IT! WHO YOU CALLING A 'IT'?"** the small fox flew over to the bridge builder to destroy his face but was caught by Sasuke. **"Let go of me Duck-butt!"** She screamed as she ran a claw across his face. Now free (Sasuke was holding his face on the ground,) she took off again only to be stopped by blue chakra chains originating from Naruto's free hand, the other still holding the book.

"Kurama, behave. Quiet down or you will awaken Kakashi-sensei." She flipped a page in the book.

Tazuna backed away from the squirming captive. "She acts like this happens a lot." He said to the pink haired kunoichi. She just nodded her head and went back to caring for the unconscious scarecrow.

"It happens a lot. It usually results in Sasuke like that most times, too." That was the reason she hadn't reacted like she normally would. It happened to often to be anything of worry.

**"That's it, I'm going back into the seal!" **Kurama gave up and disappeared in a burst of smoke.

"Oh no. Ku-chan is in a bad mood." Naruto said in a child-like sing-song voice as she continued reading. The other occupants of the room stared at her like she just lost her mind. To which she just gave them a Kakashi like smile. Everyone returned to their previous tasks as if nothing had happened.

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><p>Kakashi woke not long after Tsunami had opened the last window. "Are you all right, Sensei?" she asked.<p>

"Yeah... I just can't move around easily for a week or so." he replied.

"If the sharingan puts such a strain on the body are you sure it's worth it?" Sakura asked.

"Well, you defeated that strong of a shinobi this time. We should be safe for a while" Tazuna stated as he wiped more sweat off his brow.

"You should get some more rest for now. You all should." Tsunami said as she left the room.

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><p>Tired of being in the cage Kurama summoned herself after Kakashi fell back to sleep. With a fox grin she sauntered over to the sleeping figure.<p>

"Kurama, what are you doing?" Naruto asked with her nose still in her book.

**"What do you think? This is the perfect chance to she what is under this guy's mask." **

"Is that so..." She looked over once then back to the book. Kurama looked over the pinkette and inclined her head at Kakashi. Sakura thought for a moment then crawled over. Their hands/paws inched towards the mask. Every one else was watching out of the corner of their eyes. Just a bit closer... a bit more... They screamed and jumped back when Kakashi's visible eye snapped open. Kurama turned and ran to hide under Naruto's hair, eyeing the jounin from across the room. _"A jounin scarred t__he great Kyuubi no Kitsune __into hiding..."_

_**"Shut. up."**_ Naruto smirked as the fox fumed. Kakashi sat up and rubbed his head.

"What is wrong Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"This was bothering me; Body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right there."

"But that masked boy took Zabuza's body with him..." Sasuke said.

"Yeah.. If he needed proof of his work, he could have just taken the head." Kakashi ran his hand down his face.

"The weapon he use... and where he aimed. I thought I had just imagined it... but." Sakura whispered from her spot. "There is a spot on the neck that when hit induce a false state of death."

"What are you guys talking about?" Tazuna asked nervously.

"Most likely... Zabuza is alive. That hunter nin was probably one of his allies who was there not to kill, but to save him. If what you say is true Sakura, then we can't ignore that possibility." Tazuna was shaking his head across from Kakashi.

"Aren't you over thinking things? Hunter-nins are supposed to kill missing-nins."

"It is better to be cautious than be caught unaware when there is ample suspicion. Also there is no assurance that Gatou has not hired an even stronger shinobi in the case of Zabuza's death." Naruto stated.

"We must make necessary preparations just in case." Kakashi informed the genin.

Sakura asked uncertain "Sensei, what do you mean preparing? You can barely move." They all got a little nervous when he started chuckling.

"You guys will receive training."

There was a moment of stunned silence before their medic-in-training exploded. "Sensei, what's a little training going to do? Our enemy is a shinobi you struggled against even with the sharingan!"

Kakashi gave them a half lidded look. "Sakura... who saved me while I was struggling? You guys are growing rapidly." He smiled then closed his eye. "But obviously this is just training until I get better, you won't be able to defeat him without me."

"How long would it take Zabuza to recuperate?" Naruto asked the girl next to her.

"If he is alive it should take him about a week to recover so we have lots of time." Sakura informed.

"Good." She nodded her head. "Training? That sounds like fun." Naruto laughed.

"That's not fun." They turned at the abrupt addition of a new voice. Standing at the entrance a boy, of about seven, with a stripped hat and overalls took off his shoes. "Welcome back Grandpa." He called as he gave his grandfather a hug. He didn't seem to mean it as much as Tazuna did.

"Inari, say hello to these people. They are shinobi who protected Grandpa." Tsunami told her son. He looked at them with a blank stare. Then turned to his mother while pointing at them.

"Mom... They are going to die."

**"What was that you little brat!"** Kurama screamed as she tried to attack the boy but was held back by Naruto.

"There's no way you can win against Gatou." Kurama increased her struggling until Sakura had to aid the other female at holding her back. "If you don't want to die, you should leave." He said over his shoulder as he left the room. "I'm going to look at the ocean from my room, so leave me alone." Tazuna soon apologized for his grandson's behaviour.

* * *

><p>Team Seven was now standing outside of Tazuna's house on the docks. "Now then... I was going to teach you all to climb trees using chakra but I realized that you all already taught yourselves that one... So instead I shall teach you the next step." They stared at their sensei in confusion. "Water Walking."<p>

The three genin each looked to each other and gather chakra into their feet. As one they stepped onto the water. Sakura managed to stay relatively afloat, Sasuke was hopping around attempting to stay above the water, and Naruto.. poor Naruto fell under the moment she stepped onto it.

She came up looking like a drowned rat. Her team-mates took one look at her and started laughing. "Ha ha very funny." her voice monotone spoke. She laughed herself when they lost concentration and fell in too. Kurama stepped onto the water and sat directly in front of them, snickering at their glares.

"I want all of you to keep trying until you can remain standing, then can walk. After you can do that you will have to spar each other." Kakashi said in a lazy voice as he got comfertable on a lawn chair and started reading his favourite book and Kurama was sunbathing not far.

By the end of the day they all managed to stand and walk across the water. There were times where they were close then Kakashi would distract them causing them to fall. As revenge they all jumped at the same time then released the chakra to create a splash large enough to soak both the jounin and the demon. For getting her wet they were rewarded with a scratch to each of their faces. If they were to stand in a line going Sakura, Sasuke, then Naruto then the scratches would line up. Tazuna found it quiet amusing when they came in for dinner soaked with the scratched faces.

* * *

><p>Dinner that night was another quiet one. Though, Tazuna's family was surprised to see the sear amount that the red head could eat.<p>

"Why do you have a torn picture on the wall?" Sakura was standing in front of a framed photograph with her hands linked behind her. She turned her head to the table. Both Naruto and Sasuke were trying to send her silent messages to not to ask any more about it, but they were futile. "Inari-kun was staring at this during dinner. It seems like someone purposely removed the person that was in the picture."

The three got sombre expressions. "That's my husband." Tsunami told them from where she was facing the sink, her face hidden from view.

"And... The man this town once called a Hero..." Tazuna added. Inari stood from the table and made his way to the door.

"Inari, where are you going?" He slammed the door behind him. "Inari!" Anger flashed across her face. "Father! I have told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari like that!" The door slammed behind the mother running after her son.

"What's wrong with Inari-kun?" Sakura asked, a guilty look across her face. Tazuna motioned for her to sit back down. When she did he went on to tell them about the man who became Inari's father and then a hero to the villagers.

Kaiza had saved Inari from drowning, they became close, then Kaiza joined the family. He then risked his life to save the village from being swept away in a storm. Everyone was happy, but when Gatou came to town he publicly executed Kaiza in front of everyone, even Inari.

"From that day on Inari changed. As did Tsunami... and the whole city."

_"That is why he said those things about heroes__ not existing..."_ Naruto stood and started walking to the door.

"If you're think of training, don't. You've released too much chakra, any more and you could die." Kakashi stated calmly from his seat.

"I will prove to him..." She turned her head to give them a view of her determined eyes. "I am going to prove to him that in this world heroes do exist." She left the others for the near by forest.

* * *

><p><strong>There is chapter Seven :)<strong>

**I hope that the explanation about Kurama being summon makes sense... me and explaining things... people rarely get what I am trying to say...**

**I drew a picture of Naruto here, just remove the spaces with dots: lilprincess95 deviantart com/#/d4wfl65**

**-Lil**


	8. Battle on the Bridge

**Nice long chapter this time :)**

***Now re-edited***

* * *

><p>That morning found Naruto passed out in the centre of a clearing. Groves in the dirt and trees are visible and oddly shaped kunai litter the ground, even a few of the trees lay on their sides. Birds flew down, pecking at her nose, hair and clothes.<p>

Standing over her a person with long black hair reached their hand towards the sleeping girl's neck. They hesitate then place their hand on her shoulder to shake her awake. "You'll catch a cold sleeping in a place like this."

Naruto opened her eyes to see a very pretty girl looking down at her. "Who are you?" This person's scent was familiar to the girl. She tried to place it but she could not.

"My name's Haku."

"Naruto." To thank Haku for waking her the red head helped her collect medical plants.

"If you don't mind me asking; What are you doing out so early in the morning?" Haku asked the kunoichi.

"I was training." She replied.

"I can see that you're a ninja, but why are you training?"

"To get stronger." Naruto mumbbled.

"You already look plenty strong." Haku smiled at the young girl.

"I want to become much more stronger than I am now."

"Why is that?" She started to look sad.

"I want to become a powerful kunoichi. To prove to everyone that I am more than they think." Naruto gave a small smile and her eyes softened. "Also I wish to protect all of my friends and everyone in my village..." The other girl chuckled.

"So you have someone precious to you?" A cerulean eye widened a fraction and its owner nodded her head while smiling. "I believe that when a person has something important to protect... That's when they can truly become strong." Naruto thought about all the people who she looked up to for being strong. Then realized that what the one across from her meant; They were all protecting someone or something. Inari's father protected Inari and the village, Kakashi protected her and her team, Iruka saved her from Mizuki, she herself when Mizuki threatened Iruka. Even her parents protected her and the whole village.

"Yes. I understand that very well." She sent the other girl a huge smile, not one of her fake ones but a true smile. The other girl picked up the now full basket and turned to leave.

"You will become strong. Let's meet again somewhere." It was then that Naruto recognized the _boy's_ scent. He was the masked boy that had arrived at the end of the battle with Zabuza.

"Wait... you are..." The boy looked over his shoulder and gave her a small smile. '_Why did he not kill me? He had the chance...'_ As she mulled over it she noticed Sasuke walk pass the boy towards her.

"It's time for training." He said and turned and walked away.

"Well good morning to you, too..." she huffed.

* * *

><p>"Good work you guys. You've greatly improved." The three genin had mastered water walking to a much further extent then Kakashi thought they would. Naruto was laying across the water as if it was solid ground, Sasuke was seated next to her and Sakura was doing a handstand. "I think that's enough for today." They nodded and walked off the water.<p>

"Hey, Sasuke." The raven stopped and turned to her with a questioning face. "May we spar one more. I wish to try out a new jutsu while on the water." He nodded and smirked. He had been wanting to do the same.

"Kakashi-sensei, we'll be back in a bit. Just a bit more training." He informed the scarecrow who sighed.

* * *

><p>The two's spar had lasted much longer than anyone had thought it would. It was dinner time by the time they shambled in. The female's arm draped over the other's shoulders. Kakashi didn't say anything about Naruto's singed clothes and hair or Sasuke's ripped -with what looked like claw marks- clothes. He didn't really like them using jutsus against each other but they had spared so often against one another that it wasn't too serious.<p>

They sat down to eat. Naruto was seated with her head on her arms across from Inari. Tears began to form in his eyes. They didn't go unnocited by the girl. "What is it, Inari?"

The boy exploded; he slammed his hands on the table and screamed. "Why? Why do you guys bother to try so hard? No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gatou's men! No mater what you say or how hard you work. When facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!" The others stared at the boy, not believing what he just said. Naruto kept her face blank while staring at the crying boy.

"If I am weak I train to become stronger. I am not like you." He voice was as blank as her expression.

"I'd hate to be like you! You don't know anything about this country, yet you're being so nosy!" Some how he managed to make his voice louder. "What the hell do you know about me? I'm different from you! You're always so carefree like nothing affects you. You don't know how hard it can be and how it feels to truly suffer!" There was almost an audible snap, everyone turned to the red haired girl. Her visible eye hidden under the shadow of her forehead protector.

"How do you know?" Her voice was quiet and deathly calm. It was unsettling for those who knew her well and even more so for those that didn't. Sakura was still use to the loud and brash girl, even Sasuke had never seen her like this.

"What d'you mean?" Inari asked, tears streaming down his face.

"How do you know if we do not know what it means to suffer. You do not know us or our pasts. You can sit around and cry all day if that is what you want. **See if I care**." She stood and left the table for her room. Only a slamming door and Inari's sniffles were audible.

* * *

><p>Waves lapped against the wooden posts holding up the deck, where a small figure sat staring at the moon's reflection.<p>

"Can I join you?" The jounin of Team Seven asked the boy who nodded. The two sat in silence for a few minutes. "Naruto didn't mean any harm by what she said. Though I never expected her to remained so calm." Inari gave the jounin a odd look. "Tazuna-san told us about your dad. Like you, Naruto also grew up without a father." The young boy snapped his head around. "Actually, she's never met her parents. Growing up she didn't have many friends either." Looking over at the boy he said "The truth is, she's had a rougher past than you."

"Huh?" He asked.

"I've never heard her complain and I've only seen her cry once; At a friend's family's funeral. She's always... trying her best to get people to acknowledge her. For that dream she'd risk her life at any time. She is probably sick and tired of crying. She knows what it really means to be strong... just like your father." He gazed at the crescent moon illuminating the night sky. "Naruto may understand your feelings better than anyone else."

"What do you mean?" Inari looked up from the shadow of his hat.

"She doesn't seem to be able to not be concerned about you. She may have said she didn't care but I can tell she really does."

"..."

* * *

><p>As morning rolled around Tazuna and Team Seven, minus Naruto, left for the bridge. They figured that since she was working so hard the past few days that they might as well let her sleep in.<p>

* * *

><p>"They left me behind..." Naruto looked around the empty room. She took her time getting dressed, muttering about her team the while.<p>

"KYAAAA!" A scream broke the otherwise silent air of the household.

"Mom!" a younger voice called. Naruto ran out of her and Sakura's room and down the stairs.

"Don't come! Run away!" Naruto stopped at the bottom of the stairs and peeked around the corner. In the main room Tsunami was seated against the kitchen counter, a broken table at her feet. The front door was nothing but a hole. Inari gripped the doorway he was hiding in, tears streaming down his face. What gabbed her attention the most was two swordsmen standing in the center of the room. "If you touch that child.. I will bite my tongue and kill myself. You wanted a hostage right?" she spoke, determination to protect her son clear in her eyes.

"Thank your mom, kid." The long haired thug said. Inari slid to the ground hugging his knees cursing how weak he was. Images of his parents, grandfather, and the ninja flashed through his mind.

"You want to save your mother?" A voice from behind him scared the small boy. He turned to the girl with bright red hair and one visible eye. He nodded. "Good boy." She patted the top of his head and disappeared. The boy looked around franticly for the girl. "It is too bad you will not need a hostage." He snapped his head around to the main room.

Naruto was standing on the ceiling slightly behind the thugs. Held to each of their throats were kunai. "Wha...! Where did she come from?"

"Like some little brat will be enough to get us!" the one with the eyepatch stated as he swung around with his now drawn sword. He was left blinking when it passed through nothing but air. "What the hell?"

"Inari, get your mother out of here." Naruto ordered as she kicked 'eyepatch' in the back. Inari ran over to his mother and helped her up.

"Get them!" 'Longhair' cried. Inari stood in front of his mother holding a frying pan he had grabbed as a weapon.

"Leave my mom alone!" They ran at the two civilians and slashed through them. But what dropped to the ground wasn't the kid and his mother but two dismebered logs.

"Do not ignore me." Naruto said. A large burst of wind blew eyepatch and longhair out of the house. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. Inari, protect your mother here. If these two are here it must mean something is happening at the bridge." She handed him a kunai and patted his hair. "Use that only if you need to."

"Damn..." Longhair cringed. "You'll pay for that!" Naruto stood still as they ran at her. Suddenly their faces met the floor, two clones stood behind them. As the clones tied up the thugs Naruto turned back to Inari.

"Good job Inari." She smiled at him. "You were really brave, to stand up to those thugs."

Inari started to cry. "Damn it... I decided I wasn't going to cry anymore."

"What are you talking about? It is all right to cry..." She gave him a blinding smile "..when you are happy! I can count on you here, right?"

"Yep!"

"You'll all pay for this!" Longhair had woken up. Inari wasn't going to let that stop him. He brought the frying pan down on the thug's head, knocking him out with a loud clang.

"Take that!"

* * *

><p>When Naruto got close to the bridge she wasn't surprised to see the fighting had already started. She was surprised to see a dome of mirros trapping Sasuke who was being bombarded by senbon, though. She waited for a chance to strike. There! Sakura had thrown a kunai to Sasuke but it was intercepted by the boy in the mask. A shuriken rained down, hitting the mask of the boy and knocking him out of his mirror. A long gash spanning the length of the mask appearing.<p>

"It must be the most unpredictable kunoichi of Konoha." Haku mutted to himself. A larger number of shuriken flew in Zabuza's direction. The masked swordsmen batted them away like insects. He threw the same amount in the direction they had come from. In order to dodge Naruto had to reveal herself and land on the bridge. More shuriken flew at her.

_'No chance to move...!'_ she screamed at herself. Everything slowed down, the sound of metal hitting metal returned it to normal. Haku had sent senbon to intercept the shuriken.

"Haku, what is this?" Zabuza demanded.

"Zabuza-san...these kids... Please let me fight them my way." Haku requested.

"So you don't want me to interfere, Haku? You're as soft as always."

Naruto positioned herself to face the mirrors. The only hope they had was for her to attack from the outside. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." She whispered to the wind. The large blast of wind did nothing to the mirror. "If that will not work... then... Kitsune's art: Nisemono" Her nails grew longer and sharper. Her canines enlongated and her hair became more feral. She didn't realize it at the moment but everyone on the bridge was watching her; The jounins were the most interested.

_'That looks similar to the Inuzuka's Beast Mimicry. Did she create it?'_ Kakashi thought.

Zabuza was thinking more along the lines of '_What kind of skills does this brat have?'_

Naruto ran towards the mirror but changed direction to aim at another part of the dome at the last moment. "Wind Release: Shinkuken: Tsume." She swung her claws in an arc. A bright set of wind blades left the ends of her nails and flew at the mirrors.

_'She even modified the Shinkuken (Vacuum Sword) to be used without a sword! She just might make Hokage one day yet.' _Kakashi thought with a smile while he fought.

The attack left small groves in the mirror they had hit. She hit the same spot again but it wasn't enough to break the mirror. Sasuke attempted to melt the mirrors with a fireball but they weren't even harmed. Naruto circled around the mirrors looking for some sort of clue as to defeat the jutsu. A arm emerged from the mirror cloest to Naruto's ankle. The arm siezed the ankle, spun the girl around and then threw her into the centre of the mirrors. She crashed into a stunned Uchiha.

"Great now we're both stuck inside here..." Sasuke said with a fake laugh.

The two genin were barraged with numerous senbon from all sides. "Trying to follow with your eyes is impossible. You will never be able to catch me." Haku voice echoed off the mirror, making it impossilbe to tell which was the real Haku.

_'I'll try attacking all of them at once.'_ Naruto placed her hands in a familiar hand sign and a clone for each mirror joined the original. They launched an attack at the same time. Before any of them reached the mirrors they were destroyed. The original was hit with senbon. Unlike the previous times they didn't graze, but pierced her skin.

"This jutsu uses the mirror's reflection to transport me. From my point of view you seem to be moving in slow motion. Becoming a true shinobi is difficult for me... If possible I don't want to have to kill you. Nor want you to have to kill me. But if you come at me I can destroy my kind heart with a blade and become a true shinobi. This bridge is the place where we fight to defend our dreams." Everyone was listening to the young masked boy. "Me, for my dream. You for your dreams. Please don't hate me. I want to protect someone precious to me. To work for that person. To fight for that person. To make that person's dreams come true. That is my dream." His voice took a dark note. "For that, I can become a shinobi. I can kill you."

They were forced to dodge an almost unlimited number of incoming senbon, the best they could do was avoid any serious wounds. Haku was no longer throwing 'punches'. Each hit of a senbon left said senbon impaled in their bodies. Both could barely move. Sasuke was a little better off then Naruto. Most of the senbon that had hit her were in her legs, while Sasuke's were in his arms. She had brought out her gauntlet to knock the senbon aimed for her arms. When the next unslaut of senbon came he wraped one arm around her waist and jumped to the side.

When he looked up at the enemy red eyes with a total of three comma like shapes to both eyes spun lazily around the pupil. "You are... I see you are also from an advanced bloodline. Then I can't fight for much longer. My jutsu uses a lot of chakra, there's a limit on how long I can keep up this speed... I must end this." Haku took three senbon in each hand and attacked the most imobile of the two; Naruto.

"Naruto move!" Sasuke screamed. She tried to move but her legs wouldn't listen. The sickening sound of metal through flesh filled her ears. When she managed to turn to look at the enemy. She could see Haku lying on the ground, and above her stood Sasuke... with senbon through both his arms, legs and neck. "What's with that face?"

"Why did you..." was all she could say. Horror was frozen onto her face.

"I don't know... my body just moved on its own..." The pincushion of a boy fell back into the red head's arms. "I still needed to kill..." His voice trailed off but she knew who he meant. His unfocused eyes turned to look at her. "Don't you dare die.., Naruto..." His eyes closed.

Tears soaked her cheeks. The salt making the cuts on her face sting. "He landed a blow on me and without flinching... died to protect you. To protect a precious person, knowing it was a trap, he was still willing to jump in. He is a shinobi that deserves respect."

"Shut up." Her voice was nearly inaudible and shook.

"Is this your first death of a friend? This is the way of the shinobi." Haku sunk back into the nearest mirror. Naruto's shaking arms gently placed the dark haired boy on the ground.

"Shut up." Her voice was louder. '_I will not forgive you!'_ The seal holding Kurama in her cage cracked, alerting the once sleeping fox to what was happening to her host.

_**'...Kit...'**_ The fox thought sadly to herself. The kunoichi's lone cerulean eye turned blood red, the pupil narrowed. The spikes in her hair stuck up much more than normal. Her whiskeres thickened and every other aspect about her turned more feral. Red chakra flowed off her and ascended in the air in a spiral. As she stood the chakra morphed into the shape of the demon fox's head. All of her wounds healed, faster then they normally would.

The change in chakra did not go unnoticed by the battling jounin. The urgency of Kakashi's fighting increased dramaticly, much to Zabuza's surprise.

Naruto leaned down on all fours, truly looking like a fox. She charged the mirror where Haku resided. The senbon thrown were deflected by a wave of chakra. Every attack was dodged or blocked. On the way to the next mirror Naruto grabbed Haku's arm and connected a powerful punch, sending the boy through one of his own mirrors. The girl soon followed the boy. The already cracked mask fell to the ground. The punch that would have been fatal halted inches away from the boy's face. The feral chakra left her.

"Even though I knew it was you from that time... Without the mask..." Her fist shook, as did her voice.

"Why did you stop?" His eyes looked dead. "I killed your precious friend... yet you can't kill me?" She looked over her shoulder at her childhood friend. Her punch connected with the boy's jaw. "What happened to you intensity? You can't kill me with that... There are people who make this mistake. Not killing their enemy because of pity. Letting them leave with just their lives. Can you understand not having a dream... not being needed by anyone... the pain of simply living."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Zabuza has no need for a weak shinobi. You have taken away my reason for existing." He even said that with a smile.

"Is he really that important to you that you would..."

"I had people very dear to me... a long time ago... my parents." Haku told Naruto the story of his parents and how he met Zabuza. He started crying as he said "I was so happy! To finally have a reason for living. Naruto-chan... please.. Kill me."

"Wha..." She was horror-struck at the idea.

"Why are you hesitating..? I am sorry that you will have to stain your hands."

"This cannot be the only way..." She took a kunai into her hand and ran at the boy. The kunai was stopped though.

"I can't die yet!" He made a one handed seal and disappeared. Naruto looked back at Sasuke, confused, then realized something.

"No...!" She ran towards where Kakashi was fighting. She summoned chakra chains once she saw the shadows.

* * *

><p>Surprise. That would be an understatement of what the three shinobi were feeling. Haku stood in front of Zabuza, and Kakashi's Raikiri was stopped an inch from impaling the boy, Blue chains wrapped around all persons halting any move they may make. Not far from them a panting girl held out her hands.<p>

"Wha... Naruto?" Kakashi was speechless. His jutsu died on his hand.

"Why did you save me?" Haku asked.

The mist that made it so difficult to see dispersed. "Great job Haku. You would have taken that hit for me." Zabuza was rewarded with a kick to the face and he was unable to do anything about it.

"How dare you say something like that. He just risked his _life _to save you. Haku is a much better person than you. You do not deserve his loyalty." She then turned to Haku. "Tell me... did you use _that _trick while fighting us?" Kakashi didn't know what trick she could be talking about but Haku knew.

"So... you figured it out... yes, I did." Naruto's face brightened the tiniest bit.

"Sakura, go over to where Sasuke is and remove the senbon. You need to hurry or he might not wake up." Sakura looked confused but nodded at took Tazuna with her to check on the other member of the team.

"Are we just going to stand here?" Zabuza asked as he eyed the binding chains.

"Oh...? What's this? How disappointing." A slimy voice asked from the end of the bridge. A short man in a suit with a can was flanked by a large number of thugs.

"Gatou why are you here? And what's with all these men?" Zabuza asked. Naruto released the chains since it appeared no one was going to be killing each other.

"The plan has changed. Well, actually I planned to do this from the beginning. Zabuza, I'm going to have you killed here. I never planned on paying you any money. Hiring a normal ninja from the villages is expensive and they may betray me... So I get you missing-nins who are east to take care of afterwards. I have the ninjas battle each other and once they're weakened I kill them off with numbers. It doesn't cost me anything, good plan don't you think?" This man was sickening to to all ninja who could hear him. "Zabuza, the devil of the hidden mist? What a joke, if you ask me... You're just a ... cute little baby devil. We can easily kill you now."

"It appears our fight is over, Kakashi. I no longer have a reason to kill the old man." Zabuza had been thinking about what the girl had said when she kicked him. Maybe he had been wrong in how he treated Haku. "I think I finally understand...I'm glad it was a group like you that we fought. Kid give me a kunai will you." She tossed him one which he caught in his mouth. "Haku I ask for a favour."

"What is Zabuza?"

"Help me kill them."

"Of course." Zabuza took off killing as he went. "Naruto-chan, may I ask for your help?" He asked the red head. She looked to her sensei who nodded.

"I will let Kurama run free for a while." She said as she summoned the two-tailed form of the great fox.

**"Finally, some action. This will be fun."** She took off with Haku. They blocked any attacks aimed for Zabuza while killing anyone in their way. Gatou didn't stand a chance. He lost his head to the kunai, and then fell to the dark waters below. They all let Kurama finish off the rest of the thugs. Zabuza and Haku walked, well more limped over to the other ninja.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun's alright!" Sakura cried, tear steaks staining her looked over; He was standing and gave as much of a wave as the senbon allowed him. He didn't stand much longer when a red blur knocked him to the ground.

"Idiot." She said into his shoulder. Ignoring all the projectiles pricking her.

"Are you crying?" He asked, chuckling.

"No, of course *sniff* not!" They were all full blown laughing. It was an odd site for the villagers. A group of beaten up ninja laughing while a large fox mindlessly kills behind them.

"What it's already over?" Inari asked. "And we rushed to get here..."

"Kurama I think that is enough." Naruto said as she looked at the carnage.

**"But there's still so many of them!"** They could have sworn they heard laughing in the words.

"The battle is finally over." Tazuna sighed and smiled at the sky. "Oh? It's snowing... how odd."

"Just like...back... home." Haku whispered.

* * *

><p><strong>Super long chapter that was!<strong>

**Did anyone get what I was referencing with the frying pan? They are deadly! "I got to get me one of _these_!" -Flynn **

**Naruto's gauntlet: It retracts into a cuff on her wrist when not in use.**

**Kitsune's art: Nisemono means Fox's Art: Imitation. It's similar to Kiba's jutsu only it belongs to Naruto.**

**Wind Release: Shinkuken: Tsume: Naruto's version of the jutsu Wind Release: Shinkuken which is - The user swings their blade and a gust of wind is released in the arc that it was swung in. The technique is strong enough to stop projectiles that are thrown at the user. The only difference is she uses her nails instead of a sword. She doesn't need to use Nisemono do use the jutsu but without it is much weaker.**

**I couldn't bring myself to kill Haku and Zabuza so they are now alive! :D**

**I do believe that's everything...**

**-Lil**


	9. Gaara of the Desert

***Now re-edited***

* * *

><p>It had been two weeks since the finale of the battle on the bridge. Though they were offered to stay Zabuza and Haku left Wave as soon as their wounds were healed. Naruto had asked them where they would go and they said they weren't sure but they had heard humours of a resistance starting up in Mist. The two missing-nin decided it was best to seek them out even though Kakashi had invited them to go back to Konoha with them; Haku's blood line would be loved there.<p>

It was a few days after their departure that left Team Seven standing at the exit of the now finished bridge. Everyone turned out to say farewell to the new heroes, with Tazuna and his family at the front of the crowd. "Thanks to you we've completed the bridge but this is super sad..." Tazuna said as he patted Inari's head. The boy looked on the verge of tears.

"Thank you for everything." Kakashi thanked.

"Do not worry. We will come back to visit someday soon." Naruto assured, mostly to Inari.

"You better..."

"Take care of your mother and grandfather, you hear." She ordered. Inari nodded as the tears pooled over turning his face into a snotty mess. The Konoha team turned and started on there way home.

Tazuna waited until they were almost out of sight before he said anything. "That girl changed Inari's heart, and Inari changed the people's heart's... She gave us a bridge to 'Hope' called 'Courage.'"

"We still need to name the bridge." Tazuna's friend stated.

"Oh yeah..." Tazuna thought while scratching his head. "I think I have the perfect one."

"Oh? Well, what is it?"

"How about... The Great Naruto Bridge?" Everyone screamed their agreements.

"That's a good name." Tsunami said. His friend was the only one a little unsure.

"You sure about that name?" Tazuna laughed.

"This name is in hope that this bridge will never crumble and will one day become a super famous bridge who's name is known throughout the world..."

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><p>*Konoha, a week later*<p>

"Good morning." Naruto called with a soft voice. The greeting was returned by both team-mates. With nothing to do until Kakashi showed up they leaned against the street's fence. To anyone walking by it would be a funny sight. All three stood the exact same way against the fence. Leaning with Sasuke in the middle and a girl on each side with arms crossed and one leg turned to form a '4' shape. They even sighed in time, and then after two and a half hours they reached into their kunai pouches and began to spin a kunai around their pinkie. The whole thing scared a passer-by who didn't think it was possible for three people to be that in time without talking.

"Hey guys! I got lost!" Kakashi lied smoothly when he arrived. Still in time the three genin kicked off the fence turned to their sensei and glared with an eye twitch. It was unnerving for the jounin. The sound of a bird overhead stole the silver cyclops' attention from his glaring students. "We were going to go ahead and do some missions but I just remembered I need to go hand in a late report so I'll give you all a day off." He eye smiled at them and disappeared via shunshin.

"Did he just make us wait for three hours then give us a day off?" Sasuke asked. Their unity in movement now broken.

"You mean to say I could have slept in?" Naruto asked as they all turned to start on their way back home. *Taptaptap* "Huh?" *Taptaptap* Naruto looked around trying to find the source of the annoying noise. She found it behind her team-mates. A square box painted to look like a rock with two eye holes were following the genin team. _'Konohamaru?'_

"Ouch you stepped on my foot!" A muffled voice cried from inside the box. If they hadn't been staring before they were now.

"Konohamaru, what are you doing?" The masked girl asked.

"She saw through my disguise again. That's what I expect from my rival!" Two boys and a girl climb out from under the box. She had met Konohamaru before but the two behind him were new. The boy had round glasses, brown hair, and what looked to be snot hanging from his nose. Next to him a girl wore her orange hair in these gravity defying twin tails.

"Who are they?" Sakura asked.

"I'm Konohamaru!" said boy jumped back and struck a pose.

"I'm Udon..." Snot-boy jumped back and did the same. His voice was quiet, he was probably shy.

"I'm Moegi!" The girl called happily. She did the same as the boy did previously.

"Are these your friends from the academy you told me about?" The older girl asked. Konohamaru nodded.

"Yup! Naruto-neechan. We came to see if you were free to play ninja with us again!"

Two thirds of Team Seven were confused, _'again?'_ "Why would a ninja "play" ninja?" Sakura asked. Naruto rubbed the back of her neck laughing nervously. It seemed that the three academy students hadn't noticed her team-mates.

"Who are they?" Three voices asked.

"Oh? This is Sakura" She motioned to the rosette on her left, "and this is Sasuke." She motioned to the board boy to her right. "They are my team-mates."

"Ah... so big forehead girl and chicken butt head...?" Konohamaru stated/asked. Naruto nodded her head before she realized what he had said. When she did it was to late to take it back though. Sakura stormed away after her fist meet both Naruto's and Konohamaru's heads. Sasuke hadn't moved from his spot silently fuming. "Damn... Is she really a girl? Ugly huge forehead..." Everyone turned to look at Sakura who had clearly heard. Her foot was halfway off the ground.

"Run." Sasuke said. Two Genin and three academy students ran from the quickly approaching angered teen.

The chase stopped when Konohamaru had hit something "Ouch..." but what Konohamaru had bumped into wasn't some_thing_, but some_one_. Standing over the seven year old was a boy in an all black cat suit with war paint on his face and a Suna headband on his forehead. Behind him a girl with blond hair in four pigtails wearing a lilac dress and fishnets wore the same forehead protector around her neck.

The boy in black picked up the younger boy by the scarf around his neck leaving his feet to dangle. "That hurt you little piece of shit." His companion gave him an annoyed look.

"Don't, we'll get yelled at later." she said.

"Let's play a little before the boss comes." Konohamaru began to shake.

"Leave him alone." Naruto's voice was cold and sharp. It most definitely got the older boy's attention.

"What of it? You leaf genin are weak." He smirked and raised his fist. "Basically I hate midgets... Especially younger ones that are rude; makes me want to kill them."

Behind him the girl sighed and muttered "Oh well... I'm not involved."

"Well, after this one I'll take care of you three." He raised his fist higher and threw a punch aimed for Konohamaru's face. In a moment he stood with his fist behind his back. The red head behind him, her visible eye glaring.

"I told you to leave him alone." A rock hit the hand holding the boy, releasing him. They all looked at Sasuke who was bouncing a rock in his hand.

"Way to go Sasuke-kun!" A bit of Sakura's fangirlness leaking through. "You too Naruto!" She gave the girl a good guy pose.

"What are you doing in our village?" He demanded. Sakura and Moegi were going full fangirl on him now.

"Another guy who pisses me off..." The boy rubbed his wounded hand. Well he attempted too. Naruto was yet to release his other arm. "Will you let go?" Her glare intensified before her gaze went to the tree behind them. She let his arm go and backed over to her friends, subconsciously blocking the academy students from the direction of the tree.

The figure hidden in the tree was impressed. The girl had noticed him while no other had.

"You aren't going to use Karasu, are you?" The older shinobi had taken off a mass of bandaging from his back, ready to fight.

The figure in the tree revealed his presence and spoke. "Kankuro, stop it. You are an embarrassment to our village." Those in the street spun to look at the boy hanging from the underside of a branch by his feet. He had shaggy red hair, pale green eyes surrounded by deep black. He lacked eyebrows but had a tattoo of the kanji 'Ai' on his forehead. On his back he wore a large gourd.

"Ga-gaara..." The smug boy stammered.

"Losing control of yourself in a fight, how pathetic. Why do you think we came to the Leaf Village?" 'Gaara' scolded.

"Listen Gaara, they started it..." He sounded really nervous.

"Shut up or I'll kill you..." Both of the other Suna nin looked terrified. Meaning he wasn't bluffing. They both tried apologizing as many times as they could.

**_"Kit, that boy... he's..."_** Naruto's eyes widen at what Kurama had just told her. Then she took a closer look at the boy. There was a highly damaged seal originating from the red haired boy. **_"Ichibi..."_** Kurama whispered.

"I am sorry to you guys." He disappeared in a whirl of sand only to reappear between his companions. "It looks like we got here too early but we didn't come here to play around. Let's go." He turned to leave before a normally soft voice called loudly. Looks of shock were on her team-mates faces.

"Wait. You with the gourd..." Her voice returned to normal. "You should see someone about your seal. It is dangerous to leave it in the state it is in." Then she added darkly "You would not want _him_ to escape." The Suna nin stared at the younger genin with disbelief, even the stoic red head.

"H-how could you know about that?" The blond stuttered. A small red fox gently sat down on the youngest Suna shinobi. She didn't stay there for long. though. Sand roared from the ground to chase her as she hopped around the street.

**"Wow... He really doesn't like me any more."** the kitsune said, a fox grin etched onto her face.

"Kurama." Naruto spoke. With a sigh the fox returned to her cage. "I apologize about her. She was just excited to find one of the other bijuu." She smiled at them. "If you do not mind me asking why are you in our village?"

"You look like genin from Suna and though Suna is allied with Konoha it is forbidden for shinobi of other villages to enter another village without permission." Sakura switched into her smart mode.

"We have permission." The Suna kunoichi flipped out her pass as proof. "We are genins from the Hidden Sand. We have come to you village to take the Chunin Selection Exam."

"Oh?" Naruto seemed to be the only one to know what the exams were. "I did not realize they were so close by." Then muttered "Kakashi-sensei better recommend us for it..."

The Suna team turned and began to walk away again.

"What is your name?" Sasuke demanded of the red head boy.

"Gaara of the Desert. I'm also interested in your names." He looked back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke.

"It's Uchiha Sasuke."

"Uzumaki Naruto." They both introduced themselves and Gaara's team left. "Let us go, too. We are being watched." Her team nodded and they all disappeared in a flash so as to lose the three in the trees if they tried to follow.

The next morning Kakashi sent the members of Team Seven a message saying to be at the bridge at seven for an important announcement. When seven rolled around all three members were at the bridge but there was no sign of their Sensei.

"How can this be allowed? Why does that person ask us to meet and then make us wait? I overslept and didn't have time to blow dry my hair!" Sakura ranted. The opposite was true for the other female. She had woken up early and seeing as she had time decided to try blow drying her hair. Never again. Her red spikes stuck up twice the amount they normally do. There was this one spike that one could swear was gelled to be pointing upwards. No matter how many times she patted it down it would spring back up. It was amusing to one Uchiha.

"That is it!" She took off her weapons holster and coat and jumped into the river below them ignoring the confused looks she got.

"What on earth are you doing Naruto?" Kakashi had arrived in time to see his student jump over the side of the bridge. She came up on shore and shook her head to get some water off her.

"Damn spike would not stay down. Now it will." The others sweat-dropped at her antics. Her plan had worked though. With her hair wet she now had no spikes; she resembled her mother much more with her hair wet Kakashi noted.

"Okay... Well now to business. This is sudden but I've nominated you guys for the Chunin Selection Exam. Here are your applications." He handed each genin a slip of paper. Sasuke took Naruto's since she was still soaked and would ruin it. "Though this is just a nomination whether to take the exam is up to each of you. Those who wish to take it should sign those papers and turn them in at room 301 by four pm tomorrow. That is all." and the silver jounin was gone. The three genin smirked at each other and went home to prepare for the upcoming exam.

* * *

><p><strong>Next up is the start of the Chunin Exams!<strong>

**-Lil**


	10. Team Nine and Gai

**Yay! For having school cancelled! We are having crazy weather here for the end of April. There was snow not far from here and freezing rain/hail here. It's still raining now. All schools were cancelled as were any morning activities in town. Weather has been weird all spring so far. We would get one day of below freezing temperatures then the next be walking around in t-shirts and shorts. Then there were the crazy days were we would have to wear a thick jacket in the morning then in the afternoon it would be so hot that people complain.**

**Well that's enough ranting about weather. Onwards to the next chapter! *Points towards the horizon in dramatic pose* **

**Oh and I decided to try something different again.**

***Now re-edited***

* * *

><p><span>Naruto's POV<span>

It is the morning of the first part of the exam. The first step towards becoming a chunin. Sasuke and Sakura are already at the meeting spot when I arrive. "So are we all ready?" Sasuke questioned. I nod my head 'yes', as does Sakura but she looks really nervous.

"Do not worry." I whisper as I pass and pat her on the shoulder. She calmed down. "Let us not get into any fights unless necessary okay?" They both nodded.

"Right. Let's go!" Sakura cheers, she takes a hand in each of hers and drags us towards the academy. When we arrive there are already hordes of shinobi there. "Are all of these people here for the exam?" Her nervousness was back.

"We will beat them all. Right Sasuke?" I told them then laughed at the smirk on my old friend's face. There were even more people inside than we had seen outside. The largest crowd was in front of what should be class 201. Why does it say 301?

"You plan to take the chunin exam with that?" A loud voice called from the centre of the crowd. "You should quit now. You're just a little kid." A boy our age with spiky hair and duel swords insults the boy he had just pushed to the ground. Said boy was a year older than us in green spandex and orange leg warmers. He had a bowl haircut and the thickest eyebrows I have ever seen.

"Please let us through." A girl next to the downed boy begged. She must be one of his team-mates. She took a step forward only to be backhanded by the shinobi in front of her. Whispers of 'horrible' and 'cruel' flows through the crowd.

"What did you say? Listen..." The other spoke.

"This is our kindness. The Chunin Exam isn't easy. Even we have failed it three straight times. There are those that take this exam and end up quitting as shinobi, there are even those that die during the exam, we've seen it all."

"And chunin often become captains of military teams. The failure of a mission. The death of a comrade. That is all the captain's responsibility. Yet, kids like you think you can pass? We are just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?"

"I agree.. but..." Shut up. Shut up Sasuke. Do not say anything! I try to get him to stop but it is hopeless. He just has to show off. "You will let me pass through and also remove this surrounding created with genju-" His sentence is cut off when I jump on his back and slap my hand over his mouth.

"Naruto! What are you doing to Sasuke-kun?" Sakura yells. Directly in my ear too. Sometimes she can be such an annoying fan girl, yet others is my best friend... How?

"Sorry about him. Just ignore anything he said just now." Then I whisper to him "Stop showing off. Let those who cannot see through the genjutsu or cannot tell this is the second floor fail. It will better our chances of passing." Unfortunately, it was in vain everyone had already heard and were now muttering about it.

"So you noticed." Sasuke pulled my hand from his mouth and dumped me on the ground.

"Sakura, you must have noticed first, right? Your analytical ability and genjutsu know-how is the most improved on our team." So he was trying to make Sakura look good too...

"Of course, I noticed a while ago. Because this is the second floor."

"What did I just say...?" I muttered still sitting on the ground. The number above the classroom changed back into 201.

"Not bad... But all you did was see through it!" The spiky haired boy spun a kick at Sasuke. He in turn throw one back. The kicks were intervened by the green boy from earlier. I barely even saw him. Though I have to admit that stopping one of Sasuke's kicks barehanded is no laughing matter. At the same time I cannot believe that Sasuke was going to fight back.

The next thing he knew he was sprawled on the floor as I stood. A leg swipe to the leg that was not being used to kick was enough. "I thought we agreed no fighting?" He just glared and look away as he stood.

"What happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves." A boy with pale eyes and long dark brown hair said to bushy-brows. He must be the third member of their team. My left eye saw a mass of chakra near his forehead. A seal? Why would he have one and what does it do? I think it would be rude to ask though...

"Well..." Bushy-Brows looks over at Sakura, an obvious blush on his cheeks. So he likes Sakura? The female of their team -she wore her brown hair in twin buns and wore a pink Chinese top- shook her head. Bushy-brows walked over to my pink haired team-mate, much to her confusion. Her confusion grew when she saw the grin on my face, then he spoke. "My name is Rock Lee. So yours is Sakura... Let's go out together! I'll protect you 'till I die!" He gave a thumbs up and I swear that his teeth sparkled when he winked.

"No...way... you're lame..." Ouch, that was harsh. Poor guy. Kurama is laughing at Lee's misfortune. Then again what do you expect from a bijuu? As he slouches I pat his shoulder.

"At least you had the courage to ask." That seemed to make him a lot happier. Is that a rainbow behind him...?

"Hey you..." The boy with the seal said to Sasuke. "What's you name?"

"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give yours first." He smirked.

"You're a rookie right? How old are you?" This guy could be just as arrogant as Sasuke can be!

"I don't have to answer you." and they just turn and walk in opposite directions.

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun let's go!" Sakura screamed as she pulled us down the corridor.

* * *

><p>It was not long before we were interrupted on our trek to room 301 again. "Hey, guy with the dark eyes." It was Lee from before. "Will you fight me right here?"<p>

"A fight right now?" Sasuke asked as Lee jumped down in front of us.

"My name is Rock Lee. When you want to learn a person's name you introduce yourself first, right?"

"Uchiha Sasuke. So you know?"

"I want to fight you. I want to test my techniques against the offspring of a genius shinobi clan. Plus..." He looked at Sakura and winked in which she completely freaked out.

"Ewww! Those lower eyelashes are...ewwww." Then went on to mutter "Hairstyle is lame... and those thick eyebrows..." I am going to guess this guy is oblivious.

"You are an angel!" He blew her a kiss that she dodged like it was going to kill her. Sasuke completely ignored the whole exchange. "You don't have to be that mean..."

"Challenging me knowing the Uchiha name... Frankly, you're a fool. You're about to learn what this name means, Thick Brows."

"Please."

"Wait. Neither of you are going to fight." They both turned to me so I turned to Sasuke "You agreed: No fighting. You already broke that agreement so you can not break it again." Sakura seemed to be on my side, thank god.

"We don't have time, either. We only have thirty minutes to get to the classroom."

"Don't worry. I'll be done in five minutes." He surged forward.

"Sasuke-kun! *Squeal*" Or maybe she isn't on my side...

"Why do you almost never listen to me?" As they were about to engage in combat Lee was left kicking air and blinking.

"Let go Naruto!" Sasuke demanded from the choke hold I had him in a few meters away from Lee.

"I am sorry Lee, but you will have to postpone your fight with Uchiha here for later." He looked on confused as I dragged Sasuke towards the hallway. "Come on, Sakura. We should not give one who could be a future opponent in the Exams an idea of what we are capable of." My friend growled at me. "Lee, you should hurry and find your team-mates before the exam star- is that a turtle?" A talking turtle was currently scolding Lee.

"Can you let go of me?" With a sigh I release him to Sakura's fawning.

"You guys are the epitome of adolescence!" A very loud voice called from a burst of smoke on the turtles back.

_**"What the **_**hell**_** is **_**that**_**?" **_Kurama screamed in my mind. I am not sure I want to know the answer. A man in a similar look as Lee only with a flack jacket was standing on top of the turtle with one arm pointed up and the other circling his eye. What a weird pose... and guy. Looking at my friends they had the same face as me. Wide eyed and slacked jaw. This guy even has thicker eyebrows as Lee!

I do not think we will ever look at the world the same way again after the sight in front of us of Lee and his sensei; Maito Gai as he loudly told us. "Hey you guys, how's Kakashi doing?"

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Know him...?" He is gone! What? He was just standing right there. "People refer to us as 'Eternal Rivals'" He was standing behind us! "Fifty wins, forty-nine losses... I'm stronger than Kakashi."

"Gai-sensei is incredible!" Lee cried.

"You guys and Lee should head over to the classroom. Good luck Lee. Later." and like that he was gone. So we started our way to the classroom.

"I would've beaten him." Sasuke said. He was trembling with anger.

"Do not be so sure. Have you ever seen him train?" I asked. He looked confused. "I believe I have seen him train before. He trains harder and more often than any of us. That and he has much more experience."

Sasuke's anger seemed to melt away. "This thing is getting fun, this chunin exam..." He smirked and me and Sakura joined him. "Ready to go? Naruto, Sakura!"

We met up with Kakashi outside the classroom door. He told us that if one of us had not shown up then the other two would not have been allowed to enter. He let us pass and we entered the classroom.

* * *

><p><strong>I know it was a short chapter but I wanted to end it there. Also I don't really like this chapter... I don't think I'll write in first person again any time soon.<strong>

**Next chapter will be meeting the rest of the rookie nine and the first exam! I can't believe I actually got myself to stick to writing this for so long. I really hope I don't loose interest. I really like this story...**

**'Till next time!**

**-Lil**


	11. Author's Note

I know these aren't really allowed but I thought it was time to post something on this story.

It's been so long since I wrote anything for this and I don't when it will be that I get the drive for this story again.

People keep asking when the next chapter will be up and the answer is "I don't know"

It could be months from now or maybe never. I feel bad because I really like this story and so many people seem to like it.

Also I'd like to answer a question that a Guest asked in a review:

I don't think there will be any romance in this story. I'm not good at writing it and just can't find a way to fit it in. As for Garra's seal, to be honest I don't think I thought that far ahead. But if I do go farther in this story I will certainly think about it.


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